UPDATE: You can go outside again, the danger is over.
The ferret has been found.
The suspect was identified after multiple tips called in. The suspect is not yet in custody, but more information will be released when he is.
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ORIGINAL STORY: A thief who stole a ferret from a Dalton, Ga., pet store has police wondering if they’ve got a case of mistaken identity on their hands.
Getting into the spirit of Groundhog Day, Dalton police spokesman Bruce Frazier’s news release on the theft was headlined “Ferrett stolen from pet store, length of winter unaffected.”
Frazier said police hope the public can help ID the petnapper from store surveillance video.
He said the snatch was made Jan. 27 at the Petland store on West Walnut Avenue. Six people – two males and four females – walked into the store shortly after 8:30 p.m. and walked around for several minutes. They went out, came back in and then left together.
About 9:40 p.m., three came back. Two females went to the puppy cages and a male went to the ferret cage, where video shows he spent several minutes with his hands in the cage.
He apparently concealed a baby ferret valued at $230 in his shirt sleeve and quickly walked out of the store (“but not as quickly as if he’d been startled by his own shadow,” Frazier noted), shortly followed by the two females.
The suspect is a black male with short black hair. He wore a thick black jacket inside of the store. Anyone with information on the suspect or the people he was with are asked to contact Detective Brian Shirley at 706-278-9085, dial 9 and enter extension 189.