Talia the dog, missing in the Algarve since January 4th, has at last been found after a dog hunt of epic scale and dedication. The Podengo cross is owned by German national Cathleen, who works in a publicity agency and also is a psychology student living near Stuttgart.
On a visit to friends for some early January sunshine in Olhão she left her much loved pet with her stepfather at a café by the famous markets and went to do some food shopping at the nearby Pingo Doce.
Meanwhile, amid the Saturday hustle and bustle, 6-year old Talia managed to slip away from her temporary master and wander off.
Olhão on market days is teeming with locals and tourists all enjoying the inside and outside display of fresh fruits, vegetables, honey and other produce fresh from the outlying farms. The numbers swell on Saturday as there also is a large gypsy market where shoes and clothes are displayed for sale in one of the park areas.
A distraught Cathleen searched the immediate area, and then the wider area and soon realised that her dog really was lost. Cathleen's return flight to Germany was in 9 days time - what could be done?
Cathleen pulled out all the stops and enlisted the help of friends to mount a poster campaign that saw most of the trees and lamp posts in the area carrying a 'Wanted' poster for Talia. Leaflets also were printed and handed out by friends. Not a sign of Talia, no reports of any dogs run over or wandering around loose – Talia had simply vanished.
algarvedailynews ran an appeal in its weekend newsletter with the added bonus of a €500 ‘no questions asked’ reward for the return of Cathleen’s Podengo. Still nothing concrete...
The poster coverage by now had spread to Faro, Moncarapacho, Estoi and nearly every rubbish bin and cafe in between.
Cathleen's friends, Eleanor Jane Kemp an expat in Portugal since the swinging 1960s, and Maria Donath (from Oporto) were handling phone calls, dozens of them with tales of dog sightings, none of which led to anything remotely like the missing hound.
However, a picture was emerging of a man seen with a similar looking dog on 4th January, market day. Two independent witnesses gave very good descriptions of the prime, and only, suspect, but where was he? Three weeks had passed and still no sight of the dog or of the suspected abductor.
Eleanor Jane, Maria and some other friends visited local schools handing out pocket-sized copies of the poster with a clear picture of Talia. This produced the breakthrough they had been looking for as Eleanor Jane received a call from an immigrant resident in Portugal whose daughter had been handed a leaflet at her school in Estoi and was certain she had seen Talia and knew her whereabouts – just next door to her house– but over a high wall. The schoolgirl had seen a man walking with the dog the weekend before and she was certain this was Talia, the dog with the price on its head.
Hesitant to call Cathleen in Germany, Eleanor Jane made the journey to a hamlet in the farmland to the north of Faro and met the mother and daughter. The house where the dog was being kept was behind a high wall which luckily had some wobbly scaffolding against it. Eleanor Jane needed to climb this to get a glimpse of the dog in teh yeard. It was indeed the missing Talia, instantly recognisable, she still was wearing her distinctive walking harness.
On finding out that the property where the dog was being kept was occupied by three Roma families, Jane determined to call for back up and went to a nearby café to regroup and call the GNR. No need to phone them as at that very moment a GNR patrol car whizzed past. In hot pursuit, lights flashing and horn blasting Jane pursued the officers who pretty quickly pulled over and listened to the story of a dog from Germany lost for three weeks in the Algarve and now tracked down to a building some 15 kilometres away from where it last had been seen.
The young GNR officers could not have been more understanding and, supplied with a poster, went to the house and gave the dognapper two simple but clear options. “Hand over the dog, or come down to the police station and explain all – the choice is yours.”
The ID on Talia’s collar had been removed but of course Eleanor Jane knew that Talia had been chipped so it would be easy to check the ownership, an option put to the keeper, now keen to release the animal.
A good news call to Germany caught Cathleen in the front seat of a theatre in the middle of a psychology lecture. Seeing the number flashing on her mobile was a Portuguese one, she answered as quietly as possible and heard that her quest was over thanks to the superb efforts of her friends and the public, and to her own tenacity. Many owners would have given up in sadness and resentment after a week or so, but Cathleen kept the search going as she had the certain feeling that her dog Talia was alive somewhere and of course missing her.
What about the reward? Cathleen flew back to Faro last Sunday and was reunited with her relieved and excited Talia.
On Monday morning the schoolgirl who had spotted the dog, her delighted mother, Eleanor Jane Kemp, Cathleen and of course Talia met up at a café for huge ‘thank yous’ and the handing over of the €500 reward which was accepted with great thanks and not a little excitement at such a huge sum.
When Cathleen got back to Germany she had Talia checked over and found that the chip in Talia’s neck had been skilfully removed… had the dognapper realised there was a substantial reward for the dog he might have engineered a cash bonus for himself. As it was, an Estoi schoolgirl collected the money as a reward for her vigilance and good sense.
