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PARIS - The coiffed, tailored dames of Paris are in a funk.
The reason: a plague of dog thefts has struck the French capital, in which tiny pet pedigree pooches are being pinched off the street and sold for cash.
At least 100 dogs have been stolen in the last year.
The thefts are being attributed to petty criminals from Eastern Europe, typically Romania, who use the pooches as what might be called a pug-nacious aid for begging.
A cute little dog in a pretty girl's arms attracts more attention from sympathetic passers-by, a prelude for wringing money out of them or even selling them the animal.
"What happens is that you go out to do some shopping and at the same time you take the dog for a walk," says Oliver, whose request for help is posted on a blog specially set up for dog-napping victims.
"As dogs aren't allowed in shops, you tie up your pet to a railing or a lamp post, and when you come out 10 minutes later it's gone."
Yorkshire terriers, pekinese, miniature poodles and pugs are the main breeds that have gone missing since the spate of thefts began a year ago, says Stephane Lamart, who has set up an association to defend animals from abuse.
Many of the pets were stolen in the first, sixth, eighth and 13th arrondissements (districts) andwere owned by well-heeled elderly ladies.
A police spokesman said that dog-napping was on the rise, apparently after police cracked down a couple of years ago on the use of young children as a begging tool by Eastern European gypsies.
Lamart's group specialises in identifying beggars, asking them how much it would cost to buy the dog - "it's a fixed price, always €500 [$860]" - and then alerting the police. But, he complains, police action is rare and, in any case, very limited.
The beggar is typically held overnight and released with a warning the following day.
"We have no real means of tackling this problem, no legal powers for seizing animals or checking the pet's ownership papers," complains Caroline Lanty, head of the Society for the Protection of Animals.
And, she says, ownership papers are not a guarantee that the dog being checked is the dog named in the document, unless the animal happens to have a tattoo or computer chip that matches national records.
