MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) – A family who owns a miniature bully isn’t sure if their dog was rescued or stolen, but wants to return him home.
On Sunday, surveillance video showed a woman holding a two-and-a-half-year-old boy named Tato at the corner of Northwest 47th Avenue and 186th Street in Miami Gardens.
The dog’s owner, Jo-Amir Kay Yay Hass, is deaf and communicated with 7News through his friend Bernardo Marte to discuss the incident.
“His name is Tato and he’s a little bully,” said Marte. “Very calm, very happy, not aggressive at all.”
When the video begins, Tato is already in the woman’s red sedan, but jumps out. The woman is seen picking Tato up and putting him in her car. Tato’s sister Nella approached the woman, but walked away and went home a few houses down.
“She (Nella) didn’t want to go, but then they came out and she (the woman) jumped in the car and drove off,” Marte said.
Still images from a surveillance camera show the red sedan driving away.
Marte said Hass’ front door was accidentally left open and the dogs escaped. Nella returned, but Tato did not.
“They (the Hass family) noticed that one of the dogs was missing and the other dog was still here but looked scared and worried,” Marte said.
Hass is a husband and father and said that while the whole family is grateful to still have Nella, they hope that the woman meant well.
“It could be that she saw this and that the puppies were ownerless and took them because they had run out into the street,” Marte said.
Whatever the case, they hope she will simply bring Tato back or take him to a safe place so he can come home.
“They haven’t slept at all. They’ve been with him since he was born, so for two and a half years, and that hurts. He’s been with them since she was born. So he really misses him and wishes he could come back soon,” Marte said.
Hass and his family have filed a report with the Miami Garden Police Department.
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