Tarazet

Battle Over Katrina Dogs

Previous owners in custody battle with new owners. From Yahoo News:

Two dogs that survived Hurricane Katrina are at the center of a custody battle between their old owners in New Orleans and their new ones in Florida.

Master Tank and Nila were owned by Steven and Dorreen Couture of St. Bernard Parish. When Katrina destroyed their home last year, they had to evacuate and left the dogs at a local animal shelter.

When the Coutures returned five weeks later, they learned the dogs had been sent to a shelter near St. Petersburg, where they were put up for adoption.

The Coutures came to Florida this week trying to get their dogs back, but the new owners have refused to return the animals.

Steven Couture said at a news conference he might consider legal action to contest the adoptions.

Pam Bondi, who adopted Master Tank and renamed him Noah, said the St. Bernard was near death from heartworms when she got him and is better off with her.

"I know in my heart I did the right thing," Bondi, a state prosecutor in Tampa, said in a television interview.

First of all, I assume the Coutures had a proper reason to leave their dogs at the local shelter -- and I would think it should have been clear that it was just until they were able to return to their flood-ravaged home.

I also think it likely that the dog picked-up the heartworms at the shelter.

Lastly, the shelter should not have been so quick (or so lax in record keeping) to think the dogs were placed there to be adopted.

The dogs should be returned to the original owners. Bondi should go fuck herself.

Update 7/6: A hearing is scheduled. From WFTV (FL):

A judge set a Tuesday hearing to try to determine the rightful owners of two dogs that were separated from a Louisiana family in Hurricane Katrina and later adopted by Tampa Bay area residents.

Steven and Dorreen Couture sued in state court Friday to try to force the return of the St. Bernard and shepherd mix that they dropped off at a shelter before fleeing the storm in August.

They contend the Humane Society of Pinellas, which helped rescue the dogs, negligently adopted them out to new owners who are refusing to return them.

"They don't have a lawful right to retain possession of the two dogs because the Coutures have always been the owners," said Murray B. Silverstein, the St. Petersburg lawyer representing the family, which now lives in Talisheek, La.

Pam Bondi, a Hillsborough County prosecutor who adopted the St. Bernard, has said the dog was dying when she took him and she saved his life, an assertion disputed by the Coutures. Rhonda Rineker of Dunedin, who adopted the shepherd mix, hasn't talked publicly about the dispute.

Hopefully this judge has a brain and will return the dogs to the Coutures.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at June 30, 2006 07:25 AM