6.21.2006

Another Reunion

03:46 PM CDT on Friday, June 16, 2006

By OLGA CAMPOS / KVUE News

A complicated dog ownership dispute was settled Friday.

KVUE News

Precious is now home with its owners.

A dog rescued from the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina is now back with its original owners, but it wasn't an easy reunion.

The year-old rottweiler hadn't seen its owners in months -- not since it was rescued from flood waters in New Orleans. But at least the trauma of separation is now over.

A Central Texas family who adopted Precious agreed to give her back rather than fight for ownership in court. The Taylor family filed a lawsuit claiming the operator of an Austin rottweiler rescue group allowed the dog to be adopted rather than return it to its owners.

Attorney Scott Hendler says it's a nationwide problem facing other hurricane evacuees trying to reclaim their pets.

"There were sections of New Orleans that were very low income and wiped out when the levy broke. I think a lot of these rescue groups were making assumptions that these people weren't fit to care for these animals. And that's just wrong," he said.

Precious is now headed to San Antonio where the Taylors and their other dogs who survived Hurricane Katrina now call home.

Congress is considering requiring states to come up with evacuation plans to follow during natural disasters that would include pets.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very sad to think of all of the families that will never see their pets again, but God Bless the orgs that rescued them.