Miramichi woman receives ransom call for missing dog

A New Brunswick woman says she is distraught and heartbroken after receiving a ransom call for her missing dog.

Denise Ramsay saidher 12-year-old German shepherd Labrador mix dog vanished from her yard in Miramichi at about 10 p.m. on Dec. 28.

"I let my dogs out to use the washroom...one dog came back, Sammy, and Sadie didn't come back."

She said she received a call from a blocked number on New Year's Day and the man on the other end of the line said he had her dog Sadie.

Demanded $200

The man demanded $200 and said he wasn't going to drop off the dog until the money was transferred to him.

"He was very demanding about the money," Ramsay told CBC'sShift New Brunswick. "We just weren't thinking right away so we were just like 'I'm not giving you the money. I need my dog.' He had me on speakerphoneto talk to my dog and he was like 'oh, she's wagging her tail.'"

Not knowing if the man actually had Sadie, Ramsay kept him on the line and called 911 on another phone, but when the man realized the 911 operator was listening in on the conversation via speakerphone, he hung up.

Another call received by Ramsay's husband advised the dog would be dropped off at the Miramichivet but she said there is no clinic with that name in the area.

"He was going to call us back the next day by 4.30, but I never heard from him again."

Ramsay said, if she wasn't so distraught, she would have taken the man's email and made the transfer regardless, in the hopes it would have helped with a police investigation. But police have told her there is nothing that they can do to help.

$1,000 reward

Ramsay's family is devastated at the loss of Sadie and she's offering a $1,000 reward for her return.

Sadie has never wandered away from home before because she has collar that emits a sound when she reaches the perimeter of their property, Ramsay said.

She added the dog doesn't like winter and has to be pushed to go outside.

The family has been looking for the dog and have put up posters and shared the missing dog's information on social media. Ramsay said she had even contacted a card reader and an animal communicator in California in hopes it would help.

"I've done everything," she said.

Neighbours and others in the area have also been searchingfor the dog, with some using drones to try tospot her.

Ramsay said she has searched the woods behind her home and other areas around the city and outlying areas in hopes of finding the missing dog.

"People have been out looking everywhere for her," she said.