Shih Tzu stolen in Central Park while nanny gathered kids, heartbroken family offering $5K reward

The Shih Tzu has hit the fan in crime-plagued Central Park.

A dastardly dognapper grabbed a beloved 9-year-old pooch from an Upper East Side family this week in Central Park, while a nanny was gathering her two young charges following an afternoon outing.

The heartbroken family is offering a $5,000 reward for the safe return of their black and white Shih Tzu, Panda.

“I have not been able to eat or sleep since we lost our dog,” a shaken Makiyo Davidson, 39, told The Post Saturday. “It traumatized myself and my kids who were at the crime scene when it happened.”

The mom said the Shih Tzu snatching took place Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., in a grassy area approximately 250 feet from the park entrance at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue.

The family nanny, Jonahlyn, had brought 5-year-old Kenzo and 3-year-old Hope to the sprawling park about an hour earlier as part of their “usual” daily routine, which includes pickup from nursery school and kindergarten.

When the nanny was collecting the kids to go home, she could not find Panda, who had been unleashed, but nearby.

“I saw someone take your dog!” a man in a yellow jacket told her, according to Davidson.

“He said it was a tall white man,” the nanny noted.

However, the suspect was gone with the wind.

The Davidson family filed a police report Thursday.

Since then, they’ve plastered the area with missing posters and spread the word on social media, and are hoping to reconnect with the witness.

Family friend Peter Eliopoulos, 61, took the day off from work to help after Makiyo Davidson’s husband, Edward, called him, saying, “What can we do?”

Eliopoulos put out the word via social media, hung posters, canvassed dog parks, browsed animal shelters online and assisted the family in filing an incident report with the NYPD.

“I checked all the boxes,” he said.

The Davidsons moved to the Big Apple from Spain in April 2023.

While they worry about, Panda, the family is “grateful” for the love and support of New Yorkers.

“People who we know and people we don’t know. They are so kind,” Makiyo Davidson said.

The Upper East side mom said she is trying to “keep strong” and “be positive” for her children, who fear Panda is gone for good.

Makiyo Davidson has no bone to pick with the brazen thief.

“Panda is our baby. Whatever it takes to get get him back. No questions asked,” she said.

The Shih Tzu caper comes in the same week that New Yorkers on-edge over soaring crime in Central Park said they’ve been forced to switch up their routines to avoid becoming targets.

Central Park has seen a 350% rise in crime so far in 2024 compared to the same period a year earlier.

There have been at least 18 reported robberies in Central Park so far this year, compared to four in the same period in 2023, according to the NYPD.

The park has also seen at least 12 grand larcenies so far this year compared to eight during the same period a year ago.

In response, the NYPD said they have ramped up security in the park and deployed more officers.

Additional reporting by Tina Moore