South Philly Review

With dog toys pinned to his overcoat, Bill Whiting spent the night of Nov. 5 on a bench in Dickinson Square Park at Fourth and Tasker streets in the Pennsport section, where there had been several sightings of his beloved pet, Edna. But like every night since Halloween, when the canine went missing from a friend's home in the Italian Market -- where he was having dinner with his mixed-breed beagle and Shiba Inu in tow -- sleep eluded him.

"I looked like an crazy person. No one would dare come near me," Whiting said with a laugh of his park stay where he wore the toys to create a scent for the dog he regularly took to hospitals, nursing homes and brain-injured patients.

A mount maker artist for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology creating mounts for gallery artifacts, Whiting painted Edna in the Shriners Hospital mural he crafted about a decade ago and which still stands today.

Any jokes that come from the Washington Square resident are amazing, considering the ordeal made him so ill he went to the ER three times over the last weekend and lost 12 pounds due to stress and lack of food and sleep. The sordid tale of his pet, acquired as a pup from Morris Animal Refuge, 1242 Lombard St., has become one of presumed dognapping, torture and extortion. Police are on the case and The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the responsible parties, PSPCA Outreach Director Lisa Rodgers said.

Knowing this could end in tragedy, dozens of people in area neighborhoods have rallied to help find Edna -- many of whom are Whiting's friends. "With all the horrible things that happen, there are some remarkable people out there," Whiting said.

The latest Edna sighting was the morning of Nov. 15 at 11th and Federal streets, the second spotting in that area last week. One was by a man wary of dogs he did not know so he called police, but when cops arrived, there was no sign of the animal; the other was a woman who spotted the dog while walking her own, but lost sight of the canine.

Things turned serious

Nov. 10 when Whiting received a call at about midnight from a restricted line to the number posted on hundreds of $500 reward posters plastered around the city. Two voices Whiting had trouble understanding because of their slang and broken English, indicating to him they were about 9 and 16, claimed they had the pooch and demanded $100 more than the promised reward. "They kept saying if you want us to prove it's your dog, we'll hurt it so you can hear," the owner said.

In the background, Whiting heard whimpering and thinks it was Edna. "The sound of the voice was consistent with the pitch and cadence of my animal," he said. "They began to torture and abuse an animal. The sound -- it was yelping and crying out and it was an animal in pain. I pleaded with them to stop it. I said I would pay the money."

The pair instructed him to come to the 4000 or 5000 block of what sounded like Norris or Knorr Street, the latter in the Northeast, alone that same night. When the alleged dognappers hung up, the owner called 911. Even if it was not Edna, he believes somebody's canine was hurt that night.

Friend Marya Kaye of Bella Vista agrees.