West Yorkshire Police reunite long lost family dog Chewy with his owners in Batley

The Batley and Spen Neighbourhood Policing team (NPT) have said they’ve been delighted to reunite missing Chewy with his owners in Batley and said the happy tale is a great example of the importance of microchipping prized pets.

PC Kirsty Stanley and PC Jacob Wood of the Batley and Spen NPT came across the male Chihuahua on Wednesday, January 18, while searching a house in Heckmondwike for a wanted male.

While the suspect wasn’t present they instead found Chewy in the empty property and were immediately suspicious after hearing more from neighbours about the vague circumstances of how the animal came to be there.

Not wanting to leave the pooch behind, they instead took him to a local vets, where they fortunately found he had been microchipped and was registered missing from a home in Batley in 2016.

An initial chat with the owners quickly established Chewy was indeed their missing dog, and he was delivered back to them shortly afterwards

Kirsty said she and Jacob had been ‘really pleased’ to reunite Chewy with his owners.

She added: “We join policing to help people and both Jacob and I were so glad this was a story with a really happy ending.“It was fantastic to take Chewy back to his owners and see the looks on their faces when they saw him after so long.“He’s a lovely little thing and it’s good to see him back at home where he belongs.”

Inspector David Bates of the Batley and Spen NPT, said: “This is a truly heart warming story and I’m really pleased with both my officers whose thoroughness has brought some wonderful news for a family to start 2023 with.“This case also really highlights the importance for dog and cat owners of having their pets microchipped at their vets.“This case really does go to show that even if a pet is missing for years there is a chance he or she can find their way home.”