Evil dognappers have threatened to hang a family pet from the ‘nearest tree’ unless they pay a €15,000 (£13,000) ransom.
Pedigree Boxer dog Finn, was taken from Joy Brochert and her family’s home in Ballybay, Ireland on December 7th, The Irish Mirror reports.
In the run up to Christmas the family started a Facebook page called ‘Bring Finn Home‘, offering a reward of €5,000 (£4,250) for his safe return.
They heard nothing up until Boxing Day, when an anonymous person called them with a chilling threat.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Joy explained:
A man rang around lunchtime and demanded €15,000 by the end of the day or else he would hang Finn from the nearest tree.
He sounded hysterical and I couldn’t reason with him at all, he just wanted the money immediately, and now I am in a terrible state as I don’t know whether it was a genuine ransom demand or someone’s sick joke.
Joy went on to say that out of sheer desperation, the family decided to try and get as much money together as they could, but it still wasn’t enough for the caller.
She added:
There is a reward on offer, it started off small enough but as we got more desperate to have Finn home for Christmas we managed to get €5,000 in place.
I tried explaining this to the guy but he just wanted three times that amount and wouldn’t listen to me at all.
After the distressing phone call they put out a post explaining they didn’t have enough money to pay the ransom and pleaded for Finn to be returned unharmed.
We hope Finn will be back with his owners safe and sound in time for the new year.
