Facebook is a dog (saver)

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 14:00

Opinion and Analysis

Facebook, the company that lifts its leg to stream out what it thinks of your privacy, has found a legitimate use: stopping dognappers in their tracks.

It almost seems to good to be true: a use for Facebook that's good, instead of one that poops all over your privacy and turns you and your digital info into a saleable product.

Anti-Facebookers the world over have been shocked to discover that Facebook has some good uses after all, limited though they may be.

The news comes forth from both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph, who both tell the story of a 3 year old blue Staffie called George who was dognapped.

Aside from it being another case of a dog owner giving a dog a non-traditional, human name, George's owner Nahji Chu must have been left chewing on her fingernails as she discovered that someone had stolen her dog while Ms Chu was an an ATM withdrawing money in Kings Cross.

Ms Chu had tied her dog to a pole before going to the ATM, thinking George would be safe, but no - a 'tall, bald' man was reported to have untied George, and then simply walked away.

It turns out that dognapping has become a popular activity for criminals, some of whom target specific dogs for dog fighting matches, and others who are seemingly stealing the dogs simply so they can sell them on for cash.

Well, Ms Chu was not happy, and used the power of Facebook to get the message out that George had been Georgenapped, with the SMH reporting that 'thousands of posters offering a $4000' reward were plastered across the inner-city by 20 people over two days, and with #findGeorge being a top trending Twitter topic.

Hmm'¦ sounds like Ms Chu found a good use for Twitter, too.

This bow-wow of a story finishes barking on page two, please read on!