On Wednesday afternoon, a man’s truck, with his dog inside, was stolen in Stockton, California. The crime left Charles Siegle frantic to find his best friend, Gunner, who vanished when the truck was taken. He told CBS Sacramento:
“I don’t care about the truck. It could be upside down in the canal on fire, I needed to know where the dog was.”
Siegle had left his dog inside of the truck, which was running, when he ran inside of a downtown business to pick up his train conductor uniform. He explained, “I left him in the truck with the AC running. I figured it was an 80-pound dog, I’ve done this a million times before.”
This time, an opportunistic criminal whisked the truck, and Gunner away. Eventually the truck, completely stripped, was located, but Gunner was gone – thanks to social media, the stolen dog was eventually located, but he was seriously injured in the time that he was away.
Gunner is receiving care at Walker Veterinary Hospital – he has a severe leg injury, including a fracture and extensive abrasions from apparent road rash, and he will require orthopedic surgery. On Thursday, Siegle posted an update to his Facebook page stating:
Dr. Boden just gave me a update on Gunner’s outlook. We are not out of the woods. Gunner is stable but things can still go upside down. He has a long road ahead of him!!!
Fortunately, the community has stepped up to help Gunner and his owner – a GoFundMe account was established and over $10,000 has been raised so far. Siegle is overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers, who have made a terrible situation just a bit more bearable.
So far, there have been no arrests, but the police are investigating.
(Screenshot via CBS)
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