A dog stolen from outside a Vancouver business is back with his family thanks to some quick-thinking police officers and transit workers in Vancouver, Burnaby and Coquitlam.
Ollie the border collie had been briefly tied up outside a downtown business at about 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a Metro Vancouver Transit Police news release.
When his owner returned, Ollie was gone, the release said.
After a frantic fruitless search, the owner flagged down a Vancouver police officer, who initiated an investigation.
Later, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, an alert attendant at Burnaby’s Lougheed SkyTrain station who had seen Ollie’s owner’s desperate pleas for help on social media remembered spotting a woman board a route 9 bus with a dog that looked like the missing canine.
The attendant called her tip in to transit police, who then requested Coast Mountain Bus Company put out an alert to bus operators in the area.
“A route 9 bus operator quickly noted Ollie and the suspect on board their bus and provided police with real time updates,” the release stated.
Ollie would end up taking a trip from the Lougheed station to Coquitlam and back again before police intercepted the bus at the Lougheed bus loop, according to transit police media relations officer Const. Amanda Steed.
A 35-year-old woman, who is known to police, was arrested for theft and stolen property, according to the release.
Meanwhile a Coast Mountain security officer stayed with Ollie until he could be reunited with his family.
“Transit Police is proud to have been able to play a role in a heartwarming ending to a situation that would be any pet owner’s worst nightmare,” Const. Amanda Steed said in the release. “We are deeply grateful for the relationships that our officers and dispatchers have with the frontline staff at SkyTrain and Coast Mountain bus. Truly, teamwork is the reason that Ollie is now back at home with his family.”
Anyone with information about any crime on transit is asked to contact transit police by phone at 604-515-8300 or by text at 87-77-77. Always call 911 in an emergency.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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