Two teenagers have been arrested after a beloved pet dachshund named ‘Milkshake’ was stolen from an apartment in the Bronx, New York City.
Police say that two 16-year-old girls have been arrested after the petnapping and are facing charges of grand larceny and harassment, according to ABC7.
However, it is not yet known if 10-year-old Milkshake had been returned to her owner after the teens had been taken into custody.
The female pet dog was taken from an apartment on Tiffany Street at around 8pm on 4 May, with two suspects then fleeing together with Milkshake, the NYPD wrote on X.
Milkshake’s owner, Monica Montanez, previously told ABC7 that it was now the longest she has ever been away from her pet dachshund, and her absence has been a lot to bear.
"Walking into my household is very deafening, very quiet, you know, like dealing with the silence of no snoring, no jingles, no nails on the floor," Montanez said.
She explained that Milkshake was stolen while she was hosting a birthday party for her six-year-old son in her apartment.
The owner said that Milkshake was playing with the kids in the hallway of the apartment, and then a short time later, the dog was nowhere to be seen.
"We were wrapping up, giving people cake to take home. We’re like, hey, where’s Milkshake?" Montanez said, according to CBS.
"We jumped into action and started searching the building, so the only logical thing we could do, by 9pm, we were filing a police report, so the next day we were posting fliers by the afternoon," Montanez explained to ABC7.
However, when calls started to come in, Montanez was subject to further anguish after someone started playing a cruel prank call on her, with someone at the other end barked into the phone, CBS reported.
“I think they thought, oh, nobody’s going to care, we can just take this little dog, and nobody’s going to make a big tiff, and nobody’s going to call anyone to find them. But not me," Montanez said, explaining that she has had the pooch since the dog was three weeks old.
She told the outlet that she did not recognize the two suspects in the pictures released by the police.
"Bring her home. She’ll be better here, happy here. This is where she belongs," Montanez added.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The Independent has contacted the New York Police Department for further information.
