Public responses to an ‘upward trend’ in recorded dog theft offences in England and Wales led to the creation of the Pet Theft Taskforce in May 2021, followed by a policy paper recommending the development of a new ‘pet abduction’ offence. Despite this, the experiential nature of dog theft, what impact this has on victims, and how they go about searching for their stolen dogs have been overlooked. Building on interdisciplinary research on dog theft, and wider literature on the impact of absence and loss on human victims, this paper explores the experiential dimension of this crime and the spatial and temporal practices of search/ing. Drawing on 15 semi-structured interviews with victims of dog theft (10) and community resolution groups (5), key themes emerged from our analyses: (i) more-than-human families and (ii) spatial and temporal practices of search/ing. The dogs in this study occupy an absent presence, their bodies not visibly present but occupying a space in the minds and words of their humans. From the realisation of loss through to ongoing searches to possible reunite, participant experiences are filled with emotions that reflect a traumatic experience and ‘ambiguous absence’. With expectations of police support rarely met, victims started physically searching themselves, moving from the local to regional and national, while connecting with animal professionals and community resolution groups. Virtual space was seen as vital, with social media amplifying the virtual presence of specific stolen dogs. Conceived as a more-human-focused animal geography, the research brings together an empirical example at the potential intersection of animal geographies and policing. The experiential evidence in this paper suggests changes to organisational practices (standardised police approach; centralised microchip database; mandatory microchip-scanning by animal professionals) and national government policy interventions (‘pet abduction’ offence) might have a positive impact on victim experiences.

中文翻译：

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偷狗的经验和搜索/搜索的空间实践

公众对英格兰和威尔士记录在案的狗盗窃犯罪“上升趋势”的反应导致 2021 年 5 月成立了宠物盗窃特别工作组，随后发布了一份政策文件，建议制定新的“宠物绑架”罪行。尽管如此，狗盗窃的经验性质、这对受害者的影响以及他们如何寻找被盗的狗都被忽视了。基于对狗盗窃的跨学科研究，以及更广泛的关于失踪和丢失对人类受害者影响的文献，本文探讨了这种犯罪的经验维度以及搜索/搜索的时空实践。根据对狗盗窃受害者 (10) 和社区解决小组 (5) 的 15 次半结构化访谈，我们的分析得出了关键主题：(i) 超越人类的家庭和 (ii) 搜索/ing 的空间和时间实践。这项研究中的狗占据了一个缺席的存在，它们的身体不明显存在，但在人类的思想和语言中占据了一个空间。从意识到失去，到持续寻找再到可能的重聚，参与者的经历充满了反映创伤经历和“模棱两可的缺席”的情绪。由于对警方支持的期望很少得到满足，受害者开始对自己进行身体搜查，从地方转移到区域和国家，同时与动物专业人士和社区解决小组联系。虚拟空间被视为至关重要，社交媒体放大了特定被盗狗的虚拟存在。被设想为更以人为本的动物地理学，该研究汇集了动物地理和警务潜在交叉点的经验示例。本文中的经验证据表明，改变组织做法（标准化的警察方法；集中式微芯片数据库；强制要求动物专业人员进行微芯片扫描）和国家政府政策干预（“宠物绑架”罪）可能会对受害者的经历产生积极影响。