A two-and-a-half-year-old French bulldog named Boba was stolen in a car break-in incident at Jack London Square in Oakland, and video shows the suspect’s vehicle is a black Lexus.

French bulldogs are unfortunately becoming the catalytic converters of the dog world, which is to say they are becoming sensationally popular with thieves in the Bay Area and beyond. This is because the Frenchie breed can sell informally for well over $5,000. Thefts of these dogs became increasingly brazen during the pandemic, sometimes involving gangs and/or victims being held at gunpoint, and in many cases the thieves will break a car window to make off with the dog. That was the case with the theft of a French bulldog in Oakland Friday night, though KPIX does have video of the dognapping and the suspect vehicle.


And the dog did indeed put up a fight, as seen in the video above. "My dog was trying so hard to get away from him. But he was pulling so hard," the dog’s distraught owner Tongyang Zheng told KPIX. Zheng’s purse was also taken in the theft, and some images of the dog Boba can be seen in the tweets below.


According to KTVU, the robbery occurred at 8:15 p.m. Friday night in a Jack London Square parking lot, at Franklin and Third streets. You can see in the video below that the suspect vehicle appears to be a black Lexus IS 350.


Zheng says she had only parked her car for two minutes in order to go retrieve a file from her nearby law office.

Zheng has offered a reward for the dog’s safe return. "There's no Boba at my house," Zheng told KPIX. "I think right now it's just really hard for me to accept the fact that Boba is gone."

While Zheng did call 911, officers were not dispatched because she was not in harm’s way. She was able to make a non-emergency online report, though those systems may be hobbled by the city’s recent ransomware attack. Though the City of Oakland does offer an online platform to Report a Lost or Found Animal if you have any information.

Related: French Bulldog Stolen From San Leandro Found 900 Miles Away in Arizona, Returned Home [SFist]

Image via Toya Zheng