California: In June, a 7 year old dog called Annie got spooked by something while out with her owner, causing her to bolt. The owner searched for her in the area but couldn’t find her. He checked the county shelter’s list of stray pick-ups but Annie was not on it. After 3 weeks, he was about to give up the search when the county shelter called him. Annie was there. Come on down and pick her up. But when the owner arrived at the shelter, he learned Annie had been adopted out a week prior.
Details are sketchy but what I would guess happened is that when the owner was checking the county’s list, Annie wasn’t on there and when she was, he wasn’t checking. I would further guess that the person who was supposed to be contacting owners of found dogs was woefully behind in his duties. Annie was apparently at the shelter for one week before being adopted out.
The owner’s co-workers say Annie is “his life”. They’d been together for 7 years. The shelter contacted the adopters and explained the situation, asking if they would allow Annie to be returned to the owner. They declined. They’d already bonded with the dog.
The author of the article tosses in his two cents on what Annie’s adopters should do:
Annie is not my dog, and I don’t know what I would do in these circumstances. But I have talked to other animal lovers, and I think I would follow their suggestion: Send Annie back to [the owner], and rescue a different pooch from the shelter.
There is no shortage there of dogs looking for love.