Rare litter of stolen Kelpie puppies found

The rare litter of Kelpie puppies that were reported stolen yesterday by Farmers Weekly, has been returned safely to their owners just 24 hours after they went missing.

The puppies, aged just six weeks, were taken from Hurst Farm, located on the side of the B4368 near Clunton, in Shropshire, on 6 January sometime between 10.30am and 4pm.

They were found yesterday afternoon at 4pm by a farmer nearly 100miles away in Conwy, North Wales, after a Facebook post pleading for their safe return was shared more than 20,000 times by users on the site.

See also: Video – dog theft victim shares harrowing story

Katie Burton reunited with her puppies

Owner Richard Jones said he and his partner Katie Burton received a telephone call yesterday afternoon at 4.30pm from a lady, who said that a man in a yellow transit van had tried selling her the puppies for £100 apiece.

When she declined his offer he told her he was going to dump them, so she offered to take them in.

“She put a post on Facebook saying she’d found some pups and someone had seen our post and told her. She rang us and we went to pick them up straight away.”

Mr Jones said they felt “very lucky” to have found all seven pups safe and well and thanked everyone for their “overwhelming” response on social media, which he believes “panicked” the thief into dumping them.

“Thank-you to everyone for sharing [the post]. It is quite amazing how Facebook has got the message out there.”

Sharing a picture of herself with the newly-found pups on Facebook, Ms Burton wrote: “Without all your help we may not have been this lucky! Richard and myself are both overwhelmed with the response we had and can not thank each and everyone of you enough.”