Owners threatened to sue when humane society let golden retriever be adopted
By Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer
January 22, 2004
Niki Karanastasis hugs Bella, who has just returned home
A looming canine custody lawsuit was avoided Wednesday when a wayward golden retriever who'd been the subject of a hotly disputed animal shelter adoption had a tail-wagging, face-licking reunion with her grateful owners.
For days, irate talk-radio callers and Internet chatterers had been debating the fate of Bella, whose San Jose owner had finally found the pooch at the local animal shelter -- only to learn that she was too late.
Hours earlier, Bella had been adopted by a Los Gatos woman as a birthday present for her 10-year-old daughter.
What ensued was a battle that sparked a modern-day morality play. Bella's owners, Niki and Pete Karanastasis, contend they repeatedly visited the Humane Society Silicon Valley shelter without finding their dog until Jan. 8. By then, however, the shelter's five-day deadline for owners to claim pets had passed, and the dog was put up for adoption.
Niki Karanastasis says her friend had a brief telephone conversation with the unidentified woman who adopted Bella for her daughter. The friend offered on the Karanastasises' behalf to buy a puppy for the girl in exchange for Bella, but the new owner refused, because they had already "bonded" with Bella.
Humane society officials, however, say the dog tale was far shaggier than clear cut. They say the adopting family offered to buy the Karanastasises a puppy. The family resisted returning Bella because they were skeptical about whether the couple were the dog's true owners. Bella was found by the Humane Society on Jan. 2 -- the day the Karanastasises say she went missing -- without a collar or identifying tags.
If the dispute hadn't been resolved, Bella's owners had planned to sue the humane society today to reclaim their retriever.
"It was very clear at that reunion that Bella recognized them and was very happy to see them," said Christine Benninger, president of Humane Society Silicon Valley in Santa Clara.
Niki Karanastasis' attorney, Christopher Schumb, says humane society officials tested whether Karanastasis, who'd trained the dog to respond to commands in her native Greek, owned Bella.
"They made her call the dog and speak to her in Greek," Schumb said. "That was sort of silly."
However, he added, "My client is ecstatic. If you can imagine a dog smiling, Bella was smiling. The dog just curled up in her lap."
Source: http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-01-22/bay-area/17408795_1_dog-tale-animal-shelter-adoption
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