Aggressive pizza-stealing dog held by Marion County authorities claimed by owners
The 5-year-old Siberian Husky, named Eysak, was reunited with its owners Wednesday afternoon, according to the Marion County dog shelter.
The dog was taken into custody earlier in the afternoon after it entered a family's vehicle and started eating their pizza in an aggressive fashion, police said.
The incident occurred around 3 p.m. when a family had returned to their home on Haysville Road in Salem after grocery shopping at Winco. While at the store, they picked up a cooked pepperoni pizza.
As Alondra Figuroa, 19, unloaded her grandmother's wheelchair from the back of the family's 2000 Ford Explorer, she noticed barking, police said.
She saw a stray dog in the backseat of the vehicle, and it was "devouring" the pizza, police said.
She tried to scare the dog away, but it became aggressive, police said. When police arrived, the dog was still inside the car, eating the pizza and aggressively defending his food.
Dog Control Officer Karen Hilfiker was able to remove the dog which was taken to the county dog shelter. The dog has a microchip in it, but it does not identify the current owner, according to Marion County Sheriff's spokesman Don Thomson.
The dog was wearing a collar with the words "Don't Mess with My Food" inscribed on it.