THE STORY that tens of thousands of Irish people have been following for over a month has finally come to an end.
In early July, sibling Cocker Spaniels Topsy and Turvy were stolen from their home in Dublin, leaving their family absolutely heartbroken.
But far from giving up on their beloved dogs, the family started a social media campaign which spread like wildfire throughout the country and has now, miraculously, led to the return of both dogs.
Topsy and Turvy were stolen from their home in Dublin on 4 July. (Help find Topsy&Turvy / Facebook)Turvy was recovered from a man in Mallow, County Cork who was caught trying to sell her on buy-and-sell website DoneDeal-- which has since announced it will be banning the advertising of dogs on the site until the spate of dognappings eases.
But while there were joyous scenes as Turvy was reunited with her owners, her sister, Topsy, was still missing-- and the man who had Turvy insisted he had no idea where she was.
And so the campaign continued, and still kept growing; pictures of Turby on her own, looking sad and missing her sister spreading across social media with pleas for information.
Over one month later and the campaign page finally got a tip-off-- a person in Dublin 22 contacted them claiming to have Topsy, but refused to show a photo of her to prove it.
The family received a message from a person claiming to have Topsy (Facebook)"Maybe Topsy has been moved on," the page wrote on Facebook. "How many hands has Topsy passed through? How many people will this person have to track back through to get Topsy back?"
They went on to directly address the person who claimed to have Topsy, telling them to do the right thing, "get Topsy back and RETURN HER to us" or risk having their name shared online.
And yesterday evening, at long last, Topsy and Turvy were reunited.
"The nightmare for Topsy and Turvy can finally end," their owner wrote on Facebook. "Topsy returned."
"To the person that had her. Thank you for doing the right thing."
They went on to thank everyone who was involved with trying to find Topsy and Turvy, and urged people to transfer their efforts to finding other beloved pets who have been stolen in recent months.
Topsy is now home and safe with her family, but will need a vet check-up to ensure she's healthy-- and her owner revealed she has a wound on her neck, possibly from where the thieves tried to cut out her microchip, which is unfortunately becoming a trend among dognappers.
But the old Cocker Spaniels and their family can now finally put their desperate story behind them.
