Swipe right for missing dog: California owner tries Tinder, plane banner to find pet
A San Francisco woman is going to extreme measures to track down her missing dog.
Emilie Talermo told KGO that she left Jackson, a 5-year-old miniature Australian shepherd, outside The Good Life grocery store in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of the Northern California city on Saturday — but the 30-pound dog had vanished when she returned.
Talermo has plastered the city with fliers and created a Tinder profile to raise awareness of her missing dog among the city’s online daters, according to KGO.
She’s even rented a plane and instructed the pilot to fly over the Bay Area with a banner that features details about her beloved dog, according to KRON, which reported that the “plane was unable to take off on Wednesday due to bad weather … [but Talermo] hopes it will be able to fly out on Thursday.”
Talermo told KGO that the $1,200 flying banner “wasn’t cheap, but I’ll do anything for my dog.”
As for the Tinder profile?
“My dog is 49 years old on there,” Talermo told KGO. “He’s actually just five, but I know that a five-year-old couldn’t be on Tinder.”
San Francisco Police Department said on Twitter that Jackson was stolen.
“Let’s help get him back to his owner,” police wrote, asking anyone who has seen the dog to “please call the 24-Hour Tip Line at (415) 575-4444”
“It was five minutes, and when I came outside he was gone,” Talermo told KGO. “He’s truly my whole life. He’s a true family member.”
Talermo has also created a website — bringjacksonhome.com — to spread information about her stolen dog. Video posted on that website allegedly shows the man suspected of stealing the dog around 8 a.m. in surveillance camera footage.
Talermo wrote in a GoFundMe campaign that her dog “was taken by someone who looks unassuming (not homeless). The man took a photo of him, pet him, sat next to him and then untied him from the bench and walked off with him.”
The fundraiser has already surpassed its $7,000 goal, with Talermo writing that the reward will be capped at that amount but excess money will help her spread the word about her missing dog. More than 150 people have donated as of Thursday afternoon.
KRON reports that “over the past five days, more than 3,000 fliers have been handed out in San Francisco ... to find this blue-eyed dog.”
“I’m hoping wherever he is, he is being fed and cared for and I just hope he’s not chained up in a garage or something,” Talermo told KRON.
Talermo also put out a call to anyone in the area who has recently brought home a similar looking dog.
“If you recently purchased a mini aussie, please take him to your local vet for a free scan of the microchip (it is alerted) that could reunite us,” Talermo wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Or perhaps reunite another situation — you never know. Let’s all be good people, people.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Swipe right for missing dog: California owner tries Tinder, plane banner to find pet."
