Burglars broke into a cortijo, which was not easy to reach, in Pampaneira last Saturday and stole, amongst other things, a dog.

The owners had gone out about a quarter to ten that evening to taste a bit of civilisation and returned three hours later to find the doggone, dog gone! Thieves had cut the chain that secured the track entrance gate and the cortijo had been turned upside down inside.

After recovering from the shock of seeing the place in a mess, the tools missing and the van, as well, they realise that the dog, Shelby, their Staffordshire Bull Terrier was also missing – is nothing sacred!

They immediately phoned the police to report the missing things and the officer informed them that the stolen vehicle had already turned up; half way down a barranco.

What Shelby’s owners fear is that because it is a pure bred, it was stolen to be used in illegal dog fights, explained one of the daughters, Maya Bailey. But Shelby might not be much use for this, the family hopes, as he has been castrated, but many stolen dogs end up as cannon fodder for teaching other dogs to kill, unfortunately.

Shelby is brown and was wearing a collar with a contact number on it, although that has probably been removed. The only clue is that there was a suspicious white van hanging around days before the burglary with an Almería number plate, so both the Guardia Civil and the Policía Nacional are investigating over there, too.

(News: Pampaneira, Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)