{"id":241601,"date":"2026-04-09T06:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241601\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T06:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T06:38:18","slug":"puppy-hidden-in-purse-and-stolen-from-austin-humane-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/241601\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppy hidden in purse and stolen from Austin Humane Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Austin Humane Society is looking for a woman who allegedly stole a 4-month-old puppy by concealing him in her purse and slipping out through a staff entrance Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. when the woman arrived at the shelter at 124 W. Anderson Lane inquiring about adopting a puppy named Chico, according to the humane society.<\/p>\n

She filled out a standard adoption application and was placed in a visitation room to meet the dog. Shortly after, she allegedly placed Chico in her purse and left through a volunteer and staff-only exit.<\/p>\n

Staff did not immediately notice she had gone, but security cameras captured her leaving the facility at 6:20 p.m. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Austin Humane Society is looking for a woman who allegedly stole a 4-month-old puppy by concealing him in her purse and slipping out through a staff entrance Tuesday evening. (Photo: Austin Humane Society)<\/p>\n

Security footage shows the woman wearing a camouflage-patterned T-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, and carrying a large black tote bag. She has dark hair pulled back and appeared to be clutching the bag close to her body. <\/p>\n

Contact information she provided on the adoption application turned out to be unusable, the shelter said.<\/p>\n

Chico is a black and brown wire-haired terrier mix weighing 7 pounds. He had been in the shelter’s care for about a day before the theft and was awaiting a neuter procedure. He is microchipped and has been reported stolen to the microchip company and the Austin Police Department. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Austin Humane Society is looking for a woman who allegedly stole a 4-month-old puppy by concealing him in her purse and slipping out through a staff entrance Tuesday evening. (Photo: Austin Humane Society)<\/p>\n

“We just want to see Chico come back to us safely,” said Frances Jonon, AHS president and CEO. “He’s only a few months old and still needs to be neutered. We want to make sure he gets the care he needs so he can be adopted into a loving home.”<\/p>\n

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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Humane Society at 512-646-7387 or media@austinhumanesociety.org. Chico can also be returned directly to the shelter with no questions asked during operating hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Austin Humane Society is looking for a woman who allegedly stole a 4-month-old puppy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-241601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}