In the summer of 2005, in Kilmacanogue, County Wicklow, Ireland, a golden retriever named Harry fell into the hands of a band of itinerant dognappers. For the next few years, it is believed, he was transported around the British Isles and used for breeding purposes.
That lasted until one Sunday afternoon, when his abductors, masquerading as an animal welfare group, brought him to a parking lot in Milton Keynes, England.
There, they sold Harry, who by then was using a false name and age, to an elderly couple for £200. Luckily, Harry was implanted with a microchip that revealed his true identity, and, three-and-a-half years after his disappearance, his owner, now living in the Virgin Islands, received a 6 a.m. call from an English veterinary nurse, asking if he was indeed Martin Kenney, Harry’s rightful owner.
{iframe width=”420″ height=”420″}http://www.bvibeacon.com/main/images/stories/videos/dogshow/index.html{/iframe}
And in March 2009, Mr. Kenney travelled to Antigua to be reunited with Harry, who was flown in from London Gatwick Airport.
“He recognised my voice immediately,” Mr. Kenney wrote in an e-mail. “It was quite the greeting. And he has been grand to have had back since.”
That’s just one of 41 dog stories that converged on Saturday at the annual BVI Humane Society Dog Show, held for the second year in a row at Captain Mulligan’s.
“We had a great dog show on Saturday,” said Tessa Gunter, the Humane Society’s director. “It rained all around the island except Nanny Cay.”
The show wasn’t quite as well attended as last year’s, she said, but the society actually raised more money, since last year’s show was largely rained out partway through.
“All of the dogs that had a blue ribbon were there to the finals,” she said. “Last year a lot of the people with the blue ribbons had left, had taken the dogs home.”
On top of the canine contestants, more than 120 people attended, said Nancy Pascoe, a Humane Society board member.
See the June 9, 2011 edition for full coverage.