BILLINGS — The employees of Vet-To-Go veterinary clinic in Billings are rallying together after one of their coworkers had their car, phone, and three dogs stolen Saturday morning.
Neither the suspect nor the car have been found, but the two dogs were found around 3 a.m. Sunday, one deceased and one severely injured.
The woman, who wishes to remain unidentified, was dropping off one of her four dogs to be groomed at Quirky K9 Grooming, located on 24th Street West.
She left her other three in her car with the air conditioner on, when suddenly in an instant someone stole her car with her belongings and dogs still inside.
One of the dogs was dropped off in its crate blocks away, but the other two, Posh and Tye, remained missing.
The police have been notified, and the suspect is described to be a thin male with long black hair.
Several of the employees of Vet-To-Go, Lizzie Rupp, Laura Rareinhardt, Taylor Curtiss, Amy Lamm, Kendra Slotsue and Nicole Dell, were horrified upon learning what had happened to their coworker.
"Heartbreaking," said Rupp.
"Something I never want to hear as a pet owner," said Curtiss.
The ladies quickly jumped into action, taking the matter to social media.
"Our immediate thought was, find pictures and get a post on Facebook," said Rareinhardt.
The post reached thousands quickly, being shared all over Facebook.
"Everyone was on the lookout. People were trying to drive around, trying to find the vehicle and just reach out to us in the ways that they could help,” said Rareinhardt.
The French bulldogs were missing for hours until a tip came in that the car had been spotted in Pryor. Some of the woman's things had been removed from the vehicle, like a dog ramp and floor mat.
"It was probably about 2 a.m. (The owners) had drove out there themselves and found the two dogs on the side of the road," said Rareinhardt. "They had called, they were calling their names and one of the dogs went from the side of the road to the middle of the road. That's how they found him, and he was over there with Posh, who was deceased on the side of the road."
Posh was found in her crate and potentially died due to being thrown out of the vehicle. Tye was alive but was found with many wounds and sick, possibly from being fed rat poison. He was treated at Moore Lane Veterinary Hospital and released later that day.
"He is home now and just getting all the love that he can get," said Rareinhardt.
Many have been left confused and angry about the events.
"It's a mix of emotions: anger, heartbreak, shock," said Dell. "I mean, you just all imagine if it was ours too. And it is like ours. We're all a family here,” said Lamm.
For now, they are grateful Tye is recovering and for the outpouring of support from the community.
“I just want to say thank you for all the shares and all of the donations and prayers. You know, everything counts in this situation, and we appreciate every last little bit of it,” said Dell.
"There are so many people that don't know her that just dropped everything and the vet clinics around town were sharing our post," said Rareinhardt. Everybody that has shown an astronomical amount of support has been humbling and just wonderful."
The clinic has started a GoFundMe for the victim. To donate, click here.
