Shelter Adopted Lost Dog to Strangers

Babe and Gecko, a pair of Bostons owned by Margret Choate in Forreston Texas, wandered away when someone accidentally left a gate open at the family’s home.

Ms. Choate visited Forreston Animal Services but did not find her pets. Ms. Choate had raised a pair of Bostons from pups and considered them family.

She began searching for them immediately; hoping the microchip she had implanted in Babe would help the family get reunited. (We have to speculate that only Babe was microchipped).

 She was given a lengthy list of shelters and rescue groups to search.  She dutifully visited each one although there was some confusion about the two city "shelters" in Forreston.  Forreston Animal Services (DOG POUND) and Forreston  a private contracted Regional Adoption organization (RESCUE ORGANIZATION). 

As it turns out, Babe and Gecko had been picked up by police and left at Forreston Animal Services (DOG POUND).

(Suggested reading: Original Purpose of Animal "Control" Shelters )

The city Animal Services (DOG POUND) says it checked both dogs for chips but found none.

  After the mandatory holding period, the dogs were transferred to a contracted Regional Adoption center.

(Suggested reading : Pulling the Curtain back on Adoption Fees that Rescue Organization’s Charge)

Staff at the contracted Regional Adoption center did detect Babe’s chip but adopted both dogs to a new owner. This fact starts a harsh  negative public reaction when this statement was reported by the local newspaper.  “At that particular facility they don’t handle lost and found animals. They are just contracted to handle adoptions,” says Becky Branson, Director of Development & Communications for the city. Branson explained that the facility would have only been looking at finding homes for the pets since Forreston Animal Services had already processed the animals.

Babe and Gecko are now living with people in Houston.  The Regional Adoption (RESCUE ORGANIZAITON) in the original news report stated that “according to Texas law, the Bostons are the legal property of their new owners”.  The situation has been explained to the new owners and Ms. Margret Choate has offered to reimburse them for any expenses if they would return her "family members".  The new owners are reportedly considering what to do with the dogs.

BOSTON TERRIER NETWORK Opinion and comments:

Although the particulars of this story are fictional, the situation is not:

BTN wonders if the Regional Adoption organization (RESCUE ORGANIZAITON) who was aware that Babe was chipped, had checked the transfer paperwork to see if the Animal Services (DOG POUND) on intake, had requested they follow up on the newly discovered microchip; what the outcome would have been.

It would be interesting to know why the Regional Adoption (RESCUE ORGANIZAITON) even checked for a chip if they were not going to ask the Animal Services (DOG POUND) to verify any information on the discovered chip.  And why results would not (we assume) have been noted on the transferring paperwork from the “dog pound” to the “adoption organization”.

Public comments made on a similar story were critical of this apparent failure, to note in the files whether the Animal Services (DOG POUND) had attempted to use the information that might have been on Babe’s chip. The documentation could have noted that the chip was not registered. Since it was not written into the dogs’ files (or as has happened in several cases, the chip had migrated, and was not detected on the first check). Or that the address associated with the chip was useless.  The documented verification of the chip might have removed some of the doubt in this case. (Suggested  reading:  WHAT IS A MICROCHIP HOW DOES IT WORK?)  From all we can gather the Texas Law was followed and the new owners are not "legally" required to return the dogs to the previous owner.  Mainly because the dogs had been held for the required amount of time and no owner had claimed them. 

So we are left with only the moral stance of whether the Animal Services would have allowed the previous owners to claim them and pay any outstanding fees and or fines, if the microchip held the necessary contact information: before having the contacted rescue organization  find an adoptable family. I guess we will never know the answer to this one.


Then there was the case of:
Woman is desperately trying to get her dog back: local shelter that refuses to return him.

A New York woman Mrs. Vanly, was desperately trying to get her dog back home where he belongs after he went missing for several weeks only to turn up at a local shelter that refuses to return him.  (Suggested Reading: FINDING A LOST DOG 101 : A LONG LIST OF IDEAS).
Maxi a 13-year old Boston Terrier, slipped from his collar in mid-September and did not return home. Because of his age and health issues, after an exhaustive search, the family began to accept that perhaps he’d run away to die.  Because their searches had turned up nothing, there had been no reported sightings of the senior dog, and because he had not returned home, Vanly, was shocked, and excited, when a friend spotted a Facebook post about an adoptable dog that looked just like Maxi.
“We were like, ‘Oh my God here he is!’ And we thought that this was the greatest ending and everyone would be happy. Only to find out that was not so,” Vanly explained.

The Animal Shelter refused to return Maxi to Vanly. The New York State Police sided with the shelter. (Suggested Reading: 10 common reasons dogs end up in shelters). Police say the dog now legally belongs to the shelter because he wasn’t claimed during a 5-day hold at local animal control after he was found. Additionally, the shelter refused to return the dog because he is not neutered. This was written into the local ordinances on releasing unneutered pets.
“They said he wasn’t neutered so we weren’t taking care of him then. He was originally studded out. He was a breeding dog young so we decided to not have him neutered for health reasons,” Vanly said. Vanly is now taking the issue to civil court in hopes of getting her beloved dog back. “We just want our dog back. He’s old and he’s feeble and being at a shelter at this point is not in his best interest,” she explained.
BOSTON TERRIER NETWORK Opinion and comments:

Although the particulars of this story are fictional, the situation is not:

The back story to this is this is a no-kill shelter which hold the dogs until they are claimed or an adoptor is found. But once the 5 days are up the dog belongs to the shelter

they would be annoyed that the Maxi was left unclaimed for an extended period of time, received expensive medical treatments after the allotted time. Suddenly the people show up expected the shelter to foot the bill. I’m sure they would not have given the dog treatments that were not medically necessary, they have no financial incentive since they were footing the bill in house for a presumed homeless dog so it would be in adoptable condition.
Although the particulars of this story are fictional, the situation is not:
Below is the release that came from the Shelter.

STATEMENT:

Standard Lost/Found Dog procedures are as follows:

The Town Dog Control Officer will hold the dog for five days to wait to see if an owner will claim the dog. Occasionally when a DCO (dog control officer) picks up a dog, he will notify the Shelter so we can post it on our Facebook page as a found dog.

If the dog hasn’t been claimed from DCO after five days, the DCO surrenders the dog to the Shelter.

When a dog arrives at the Shelter, the standard intake includes a veterinary medical exam, treatments as outlined by veterinarian, vaccines, spay/neuter, and microchip

In order to claim a dog from a Shelter, the owner must provide proof of ownership (vet records, dog license, rabies certificate).

In Maxi’s case, the DCO sent a photo and description to the Shelter when he was picked up. The Shelter staff posted his info on our Facebook page for ten days.

He was surrendered to the Shelter by DCO after no one claimed him.

.You found a lost dog now what

http://bostonterriernetwork.com/index.php/category-blog/35-rescue/128-you-found-a-lost-dog-now-what.html

When he arrived at the Shelter, he was given extensive medical treatment due to his poor health condition.Ten days passed without an inquiry about him and his health was improving, so he was posted for adoption.

When a woman came to the Shelter to claim him, she was either unable to or refused to provide proof of ownership.At no time was she told she couldn’t have the dog, we simply requested the she come back with proper proof of ownership, as required by New York State Law.

In order to claim this dog, we require proof of ownership and the dog must be licensed. Since the dog was in dire need of medical attention, she will also need to pay the veterinary bills and expenses associated with housing and caring for him.

HERE IS THE PUBLIC RESPONSE

They have a lot of gall to call themselves a “shelter”. It seems they have set themselves up as some kind of court to judge the fitness of an owner. The shelter and the police should be ashamed of themselves.

In any case, keep an eye on them. See if they might not try to breed him and sell the pups. I smell greed.

Sounds like the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley is a special kind of stupid!!!! The dog slipped his lead and he got lost. He was picked up and brought to a shelter. Yes, the shelter has a 5 day period to claim any animals found, I understand that. The people that owned him genuinely didn’t know of their missing dog whereabouts, until a family friend showed them the picture posted on Facebook.

They go to the shelter to bring him back to his loving home and they are left confused and shocked by the treatment they received.

They were bullied, escorted off the property without just cause and the Animal Shelter refuses to release the dog, because it is not neutered. Stating that the dog is abused, because the family didn’t opt to have him altered. Many people opt not to spay or neuter due to health reasons, breeding or personal choice. That is up to the owner of the dog to decide what they choose to do with their dog. It doesn’t mean that they love their dog any less or that they are abusing the animal in any way shape or form.

I owned a stud dog for many years; he was micro-chipped and was feed holistic diet. My dog ate better than most people, I know and he wasn’t abused or mistreated. I find the whole thing absurd, given that many shelter’s these day’s are over run with abandoned and abused dogs. Unfortunately, many of the animals that wind up in shelters like these are put to sleep. Given the circumstances one would hope, that the shelter would have a heart and give the dog back to the family that loved him.