Family calls for Amazon to make changes after delivery driver picks up dog

VILLA RICA, Ga. - A Villa Rica family says an Amazon driver picked up their dog. They did get their dog back but learned this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

Lulu is a 1-year-old pup who loves to run and play in her yard. Recently, she got through the invisible fence and was nowhere to be found. Her family was frantic and started searching the neighborhood. The guard at the front gate told them an Amazon driver had picked her up.

"She said ‘I told him to just let her go, and she would find her way home,’ but he said ‘No, I was going to take her to animal control.’ And then he just left with her," said Karen Ferranti, Lulu's owner.  

Ferranti says it seemed like the driver was trying to help Lulu, but he never should have put Lulu in his truck.

"I was very worried about her, I didn't know if I was going to see her again," said Spencer Kendrick, Ferranti's son.

Ferranti says she called Amazon and the police. The next day, a woman 70 miles away in Lawrenceville called the number for Lulu's vet that was on her ID tag.

"She told me she got her at a Lawrenceville Amazon warehouse and that she was the third person to have her," Ferranti said.

Amazon says they're looking into what happened. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company told FOX 5:

"Those who deliver on behalf of Amazon are trained to report any animals they encounter on their route to our support team and to not engage with the animal."

Lulu is now safe at home, but Ferranti is frustrated, saying it took four calls to Amazon before an official investigation was launched.

Ferranti searched the internet and discovered others claimed their pets were taken by Amazon drivers. So she started a Facebook group called Amazon Took My Pet.  It's a collection of newspaper and television stories from across the country including one from FOX 5.  The story is about a contract driver for Amazon who was arrested for stealing a cat from a family in Cobb County while she was out delivering packages.

Ferranti is hoping it will alert others to the fact that this is happening, and hopefully, Amazon will put better procedures in place for when it does.

"So that when a customer or somebody calls in, the customer service reps know exactly what to do and get these people their pets back quicker," Ferranti said.

An Amazon spokesperson told FOX 5 the company does have procedures in place. Unfortunately, this time it wasn't followed properly.