A heartless cur in Brooklyn swiped an arthritic Chihuahua who does modeling work, and now the pup’s owner is pleading for his safe return.
Heartbroken owner Jess Gary, 37, told The Post that her photogenic 15-year-old pooch, Fidel — whose likeness has graced the lifestyle Web site BarkPost.com and other online destinations — was walking behind her during off-leash hours at Prospect Park at around 8 a.m. Saturday when she heard him yelp and turned around to find he’d vanished.
Fidel needs daily meds to keep his arthritis from flaring up, and he could be howling with hurt now that he’s without them, Gary said.
“The pain medication keeps him comfortable. He could be in a lot of pain if they don’t know how to handle a senior dog,” she said Sunday.
Passing jogger Paul Ebert said he saw the dognapper bolt by him out of the park but didn’t realize anything was amiss until Gary told him her dog had disappeared.
“I immediately started running after [the thief],” but “he was like 400 or 500 feet in front of me,” said Ebert, 32, adding that he tailed the man down First Street but lost him when he rounded a corner onto Eighth Avenue.
The thief had the extra advantage of being able to blend right in with the pack of yuppies-with-puppies who frequent Prospect Park, the jogger said.
“He looked like any other guy that would be at the park — a normal, 35-year-old white guy — which is probably why he didn’t look out of place,” said Ebert, who added that he thought of his own Labrador, Iris, while hunting Fidel’s captor.
Police are investigating the incident.