RURAL RETREAT, Va. – A family in Rural Retreat is making a call for help after someone picked up their hunting dog and removed his tracking collar, during a youth hunting tournament.
“We just miss him, he was one of my best hounds,” said Rocky Deel, the owner of the stolen hunting dog, Ringo. “We raised him from a puppy. You miss him, he’s like part of the family.”
For many families, hunting is a way of life. For this family, it includes their hunting dogs.
On Oct.14, Rocky Deel was participating in a local youth hunting tournament with his son when the unexpected happened.
During hunts, the dogs can be anywhere between 10 to 20 miles away tracking animals.
“The dogs are just bred to do it,” said Deel. “They love doing it.”
Deel told us they were gathering their dogs at the end of the day when they couldn’t locate Ringo.
That’s when they received a call from another hunter saying they had seen Ringo off the side of the highway with two people.
“By the time he got a hold of us, and we get off the mountain, it was showing that the dog was still there,” said Deel. “We go there, we can’t find him, and we end up finding the tracking collar thrown in the ditch.”
The family believes he was picked up in a maroon van with a Florida license plate.
Deel’s daughter, Sierra Whalen, said Ringo is more than just a pet.
“He’s not just a hunting dog,” said Whalen. “A lot of people have this thought that they are not treated well, but they are. They are just like family just like any other pet would be.”
She says since Ringo has been gone, it has taken a toll on the family.
“My brother actually can’t even go feed the dogs now because he is not up there,” said Whalen. “It is just not a situation anybody wants to be in.”
In the state of Virginia, it is a Class 5 felony to steal a dog, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It is also a misdemeanor in Virginia to take a tracking collar off a dog.
The family said they have filed a police report but if Ringo is returned, they will not press charges. They also said they have a $1,000 reward for any information that leads to locating Ringo.