By Allan Tunningley
9:00am Thursday 9th June 2011
A pet puppy which disappeared four years ago has been reunited with its original owners after a ‘tug of love’ court battle.
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| Rinty, from the DogLost website when she was first posted in 2007 |
Rinty the terrier vanished in January 2007 when she was just eight months’ old, leaving the Beaty family, of Troutbeck, distraught.
Mum Pamela Beaty, husband Brian and kids Victoria and James spent months putting up posters around the area and notifying vets about their missing pet.
After hearing nothing, they eventually gave up hope of ever seeing Rinty again.
Then out of the blue Mrs Beaty received a letter from the pet-chipping company Anibase saying someone had applied to have the details on the terrier’s chip changed.
It was four years, two months and three days after she went missing. But the family’s anxious wait for Rinty’s return was to go agonisingly on for several more weeks. Mrs Beaty said: “We were delighted to know that Rinty was still alive, but Anibase said they could not reveal who had her because of the Data Protection Act.”
She said Cumbria Police traced Rinty but at first said they could not help as it was a civil matter.
But after three weeks, they relented and revealed Rinty was living with David and Karen Akister in Allithwaite.
They knew her as Tess, a name given by her previous owner, who had died.
Mrs Beaty wrote to the couple asking for Rinty back; but the Akisters – who had looked after the terrier since last December – refused.
In papers submitted to Kendal County Court, they said the previous owner - named only as Debbie - had bought the terrier in good faith through a shop advert at eight months old.
Last Wednesday, a judge at Kendal County Court agreed with the Beatys – and Rinty was returned.
Mrs Beaty said: “It’s been an emotional time but it’s wonderful to have her back. She soon settled in and resp-onded to her name again.”
Mr Akister said: “My wife and I are both devastated.”
Source: http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/9072151.Tug_of_love_battle_over_lost_dog/
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