By Lyndsey Wetton, Fremantle-Cockburn Gazette
ALL that Yangebup couple Hazel and Allen Brooks want is to see the safe return of their 3½-year-old dog Bella.
A perfect and much-loved companion to Mr Brooks, who suffers from a number of health problems, the golden-brown pomeranian cross chihuahua was stolen from the back garden of couple’s Tern Loop home on the morning of May 1, while Mrs Brooks was vacuuming the house.
A day later, Mrs Brooks found a sickening, handwritten note in the mailbox, written in ‘text speak,’ advising the couple not to bother looking for Bella.
She took the note straight to Cockburn Police, who opened an investigation into the matter.
The couple have lived in Yangebup for 25 years and say that passers-by often remarked what a well-trained dog Bella was, when she sat in the front yard while Mrs Brooks tended to the plants.
“She was a very friendly dog, extremely clever and loved people,” Mrs Brooks said.
“We had never had any complaints about her and she wasn’t a barker. She would just talk to the dogs either side of the fence.
“That dog is Allen’s everything, I bought her for him because he was sick. It’s tearing us to pieces, because Bella just idolised him.”
Cockburn Police Sergeant Nicole Ford said rangers and surrounding veterinarians had been notified of Bella’s disappearance.
“It’s a horrible act,” she said.
Sgt Ford asked anyone who had seen Bella or had any information about her whereabouts to contact First Class Constable Marinus Kleinjan at Cockburn Police Station on 9418 9777.