Gemma Atkinson calls for a 'crackdown' on dog thefts
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Former Hollyoaks actress Gemma Atkinson, 36, has revealed that she was given a warning by a fellow dog walker while out walking her two pooches, Norman and Ollie. The star said that she changed the route of her dog walk to avoid a “group of lads” who had been acting “suspiciously”. The star then voiced her concerns over the incident on her Instagram account.
What are we supposed to do, anyone?
Gemma Atkinson
The wife-to-be of Strictly professional Gorka Marquez, 30, relayed the morning’s events to her 1.6 million followers.
With her blonde hair swept into a messy bun on top of her head, Gemma didn’t hold back as she addressed the rise in dog thefts.
She said: “I was out on a dog walk this morning, quite early on and a really lovely lady she stopped me, she had a Spaniel and she said, ‘I’m just letting you know, there’s a group of lads a bit further up, no dogs and they were enquiring about people’s dogs.'”
Gemma continued: “They’re not local, it’s just a little bit suspicious, it could have been innocent, but obviously my instinct then was, right, I’ll go a different way.”
The star captioned the story, “So sick of dog thieves”.
She explained: “But it’s got me thinking now I’m home like, there’s so many dog thefts and I genuinely don’t know what the answer is.”
The actress said that she was going to do everything possible to protect her two Spaniels from dog thieves while asking fans for their advice.
“I’ve been thinking, do I now need to start taking something out with me when I’m walking Norm and Ollie because it’s my responsibility to protect my family, which Norm and Ollie are part of.”
Gemma continued: “And obviously you don’t want to be that person looking for trouble, no one wants that, but I genuinely don’t know what is best to do to protect my family from d******ds who wants to steal them
“What are we supposed to do, anyone?” she asked her followers, at a loss.
As the responses started flooding in, the former Strictly star realised that her idea of “protection” may have been a bit too extreme compared to others.
“Wow, so many DM’s already, loads of you take pepper spray, hair spray…” she said.
“I was thinking more along the lines of my baseball bat, but after reading your DM’s that’s a tad aggressive I realise,” the star laughed.
Gemma went on to say that she couldn’t imagine having her two dogs taken from her.
“But it’s just – the thoughts that go through my head about what I would do to someone who tried to take them,” she added, shaking her head.
Before signing off the star revealed all the methods of protection that fans wrote in to tell her they’d been using.
She said: “But yeah, I’m glad everyone’s on it, so the genuine answer from people is pepper spray, rape alarms, anything, anything you can get your hands on that’s legal, do it, you got to protect them, you have to protect your family.
The fitness influencer ended by calling for a crackdown on dog thieves.
“I just hope that there’s a real crackdown on it when it comes to punishment for dog thieves because they’re just b*****ds,” she said.
The star accompanied the story with the caption: “Better to be safe than sorry.”
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