Six dogs were rescued from a U-Haul truck they were locked inside early Tuesday in the Streeterville neighborhood on the Near North Side.
Passersby heard the dogs barking in the back of the truck about 12:05 a.m. in the 200 block of East Grand Ave. and N. Colombus Dr. and contacted police, Chicago police said.
The bystanders who broke in to get the dogs out, say the animals were being neglected, while the dog owners say the bystanders are thieves for taking the dogs and not returning them.
Some of the bystanders said that when they heard barking from the inside of the truck, they immediately called police and then broke into the U-Haul to get the dogs out.
"There was a dog in here and the thing was completely closed, it was 85 degrees, pried it open and found, I think, six or seven dogs including some new-borns, completely dehydrated," said Taylor Kravit, a Good Samaritan.
"That was not helping that was kidnapping. They wanted to make us out to look like bad people but anyone who knows us knows that we love our dogs, so much to change our lives to move them," said dogowner Ameenah Mohammed.
Mohammed and her husband say they’re moving to Waukegan and had stopped by a hotel (which they say did not allow pets) to say goodbye to their friends.
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They assured officials they had been checking on the dogs regularly before going out last night.
Asiya Mohammed, the 70-year-old mother of the dog owner, said she was the one who came out of the nearby hotel when police called.
“They were saying the dogs were sick, is nothing wrong with the dogs," said Asiya Mohammed.
Chicago police say no tickets or fines were issued. Instead, officials say the concerned citizens made an agreement with the owner to take care of the dogs for the night and they would return the dogs the next day.
Though according to Asiya Mohammed, "they said they were going to put me in jail.”
As of about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, the dogs still, had not been returned to the owners
NBC 5 reached out to one of the bystanders who said he would care for the dogs overnight, but he did not immediately return the calls.
