Up to $15,000 Reward Offered for Safe Return of French Bulldogs Stolen at Gunpoint

For Immediate Release:
July 6, 2023

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

PETA is adding up to $5,000 to the Metropolitan Police Department’s $10,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of two French bulldogs—as well as the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible for stealing the dogs at gunpoint and possibly attempting to steal another dog in Southwest D.C. on Monday. Locating the dogs is crucial, as they may have special veterinary needs: French bulldogs are a breathing-impaired breed (BIB) who suffer from an array of physical disabilities due to their purposely flattened, pushed-in snouts, causing distorted airways that leave them struggling to breathe. With temperatures in the 90s, they may die if improperly cared for.

According to reports, around 10:30 a.m., three people exited a car and approached a man walking the two dogs on V Street S.W. One of the people assaulted the dog’s guardian with a gun and stole the animals—a white 5-month-old female named Cartier and a speckled gray 1.5-year-old male named Uno. Police say that just minutes prior, the same suspect assaulted another dog walker and attempted to steal her dog at the intersection of Maine Avenue and Seventh Street. Police describe the suspect as a Black teenage male, 5 feet 10 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, who wore a black ski mask, a dark-colored shirt, shorts, and sneakers. Surveillance photos of the suspect and the getaway car are available here.

Police are investigating but don’t yet have any leads, so PETA is asking for the public’s help to find the dogs and the person(s) who stole them.

“These dogs were violently taken from their person and are in danger—and they may even need special care for breathing issues because they were bred to have such flat faces,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “This serial attacker will likely strike again, and PETA urges anyone with information to come forward and help Cartier and Uno reunite with their family.”

PETA notes that French bulldogs are victims of the pet trade, in which animals are treated as nothing but high-end commodities—and as long as people pay top dollar for puppies from pet stores and breeders, there will be a market for stolen “purebred” dogs. The best way to reduce the demand for these dogs is to adopt from an animal shelter and never buy from a breeder or pet store. French bulldogs and other BIBs are bred for a particular look, resulting in drastically shortened airways that cause an array of painful and distressing symptoms—including labored breathing, snorting, gagging, and collapsing—and make them more susceptible to vomiting, exercise intolerance, heatstroke, and even death.

Tipsters should contact the police at 202-727-9099 or text a tip to the department’s Text Tip Line at 50411.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.