At 1:51 PM -0400 7/2/00, Susan Shott wrote:
>In a message dated 07/02/2000 10:44:25 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< It just doesn't seem to make sense that someone would
> bother to steal dogs when shelters will give them to medical research
> rather than euthanize them. >>

        Many times a study will want dogs of a particular size or age or
breed. So all the Labs might be targeted one time or all the medium sized
dogs or all the 2-5 year old ones.
        Labs are required by law to scan dogs for microchips and contact
the owner identified by those chips. Recently on the rescue list it was
reported where two labs who had been lost were returned to their owner by
the Labratory - who had bought the dogs from a dog pound.
        (There are rumours at dog theives and some Labs will kill chipped
dogs rather than return them. This seems unlikely to me as it would be
cheaper to just dump them loose by the side of the road. There is no
question that not all Lab scan the dogs they get in.)

        jan