Date Published: 28/01/2020
ARCHIVED - Pocahontas the Labrador rescued after mystery kidnap-robbery ordeal
ARCHIVED ARTICLE
The trainer of the dog specialized in caring for the disabled faces charges of falsely reporting her theft
When it was reported earlier this month that Pocahontas, a black Labrador specially trained in caring for the disabled, had been stolen at gunpoint just a couple of days before she was due to be delivered to her new owner, a 15-year-old handicapped girl in Málaga who has been awaiting a canine assistant for three years, there was general surprise at the circumstances in which the robbery took place and a great deal of sympathy for the disappointed new owner.
But at the same time the version of events offered by Pocahontas’ trainer, Alfonso García, who has been perfecting her skills for the last year, failed to convince either the police or the management of the Fundación Bocalán canine training centre in Aranjuez, in the region of Madrid. That version of events was that four people of gypsy origin approached him near the E. Leclerc store in Aranjuez, asked for money and then pulled out a pistol and took his wallet before without warning they loaded the dog into their white Renault Express van and drove off with her.
As a result of their investigations, though, the police have now found Pocahontas in Sr García’s home and returned her to Fundación Bocalán, although where she has spent the intervening days remains something of a mystery. The trainer has been detained and faces charges of falsely reporting a crime, but Teo Mariscal, the director of the foundation, is quoted as saying that the dog was indeed taken from her trainer by people to whom he owed money, but not in the way which was originally reported.
Sr Mariscal also explains that although Pocahontas was found in Alfonso García’s home she has not spent the last week there but in a “shanty town”. Eventually after he managed to put together the money he owed she was returned to him, but she is now thinner than before and shows signs of being scared: she will still be handed over to Clara, the young girl waiting for her in Málaga, but not until she has undergone a month of rehabilitation.
So, Pocahontas has been rescued and her future with Clara in Málaga seems to be assured, but the mystery over what she has been through during the last ten days remains unclarified. The only details to have emerged are that Alfonso García is a former student of the Fundación Bocalán and had been given the responsibility of looking after the Labrador for a month.
Follow Murcia Today on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest news, events and information in the Region of Murcia and the rest of Spain: https://www.facebook.com/MurciaToday/.
-->