By Catherine Dominguez
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Two beagles that escaped their backyard in June have finally made it home.
The Hunt family, who lives in the Village of Cochran’s Crossing, confirmed last week their two beagles, Lucky and Hopscotch, are home but declined to comment further due to an agreement with the Woodlands-based Houston Beagle and Hound Rescue Inc.
The two dogs were let out of the Hunts backyard June 21 after a utility worker failed to close their gate completely. When a local resident found the dogs, she contacted HBHR when she was unsuccessful in locating the dogs’ owner. The rescue group subsequently adopted the two beagles into a new home.
HBHR officials said after reviwing Texas property laws with a Houston-based attorney, Zandra Anderson, they visited with the adopters of the dogs and explained the situation with the Hunts. The rescue requested they return the dogs.
Although the exact figures were not disclosed, HBHR said the Hunts did cover some of the costs for the dogs while they were in the care of the adopters.
The Hunts were reunited with the Beagles Aug. 17.
HBHR was founded in 1999 and is a 501 c3 nonprofit organization. The all-volunteer group rescues Beagles and other hound dogs from shelters and fosters them before adopting them into new homes.
Source: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/beagles-reunited-with-family-in-the-woodlands/article_ceeb1f5e-4872-541e-87e6-63d81152a246.html
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Original story: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/east_montgomery/news/article_6baf61ea-a3d2-5481-a561-187fc157f06f.html
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Family fights to get lost dogs back
By Catherine Dominguez
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 6:40 pm
A Woodlands family is pleading with a local dog rescue group and a neighbor for the return of their dogs.
However, almost two months after the two beagles escaped from their back yard, the Hunt family is no closer to being reunited with the dogs, even though they have been located.
The dogs were brought to Houston Beagle and Hound Rescue, a local rescue group, after they went missing in June. The rescue group claims it legally took ownership of the two dogs and adopted them out to a new home almost a month after the dogs were found wandering a Woodlands neighborhood.
However, Houston attorney Zandra Anderson said the group had no legal authority over the animals.
“Dogs are property,” said Anderson, who specializes in animal law issues with a special emphasis in Texas Dog Law. “There is a two-year statute of limitations on property. If someone’s property is lost, the owner is not giving up rights because the property is lost. Rescue organizations have no right to impound animals, none.”
Angie Hunt, who lives in the Village of Cochran’s Crossing with her husband and two children, said the family’s 3-year-old beagles, Lucky and Hopscotch, got out of their yard June 21 after a utility worker failed to close the gate completely. When a local resident found the dogs and was unsuccessful in finding their owners despite posting on several community web sites, she called HBHR for help.
Officials with HBHR said they do not make efforts to find owners of lost dogs that come into their program, simply because they do not have the staff.
“It is not our burden to find the owners,” said Becky Agen, an HBHR volunteer.
Now, rescue officials say there is nothing they can do to get Lucky and Hopscotch back to the Hunts. That decision to return the dogs, now lies with the new owner.
HBHR was founded in 1999 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The all-volunteer group rescues beagles and other hounds from shelters and fosters them before adopting them into new homes.
According to Agen, the Hunts’ beagles were adopted to their new owner for $250 apiece.
HBHR declined to provide specific details of the adoption including when the group adopted the dogs into their new home.
Search efforts
Hunt said she and her family started looking for their dogs immediately after discovering they were missing, posting notices online and driving the neighborhoods.
Hunt said she also contacted the Montgomery County Animal Shelter and checked area dog parks.
According to confirmation emails, the Hunts posted notices for their missing beagles on two sites June 23 and June 29. One site, Petharbor.com is a nationally known website that allows the public to adopt a new animal companion, find a lost pet or re-unite an owner with a lost pet.
“In Texas, when an owner is trying to find their dogs, they have not abandoned the dogs and have lost no interest in the dogs,” Anderson said. “The rescue organization, according to the law, is considered a finder of lost property and have no rights in that property unless the owner never comes forward.”
Ownership
On July 13, almost a month after the dogs went missing, the Hunt family learned from a family friend that the dogs were at a nearby home. The Hunts went to the home but the owner said they could not have the dogs and needed to contact HBHR.
Hunt said she contacted the group and informed the group that the dogs belonged to her and provided information that she owned the beagles. When the rescue group responded, Hunt said she was told the dogs already had been adopted and she could not get them back.
“If the owner comes forward,” Anderson said, “the (rescue group and adopter) have a legal obligation to give those dogs back.”
In an email to The Villager, Sandra Kos, founder of HBHR, said her organization does its best to reunite families with their lost pets. However, she said, once volunteers accept ownership of a stray dog, they move forward to get them placed into new homes.
“We must move forward and act upon our goal of getting the dog properly vaccinated, micro-chipped and vetted, then find the dog a new permanent home so that we can save the life of the next stray in need of rescue,” Kos said. “We cannot be expected to keep every dog that we rescue, and we certainly cannot ask an adopter to return a dog that was adopted from our organization in good faith.”
Anderson said many rescue groups are under the impression they are acting within the law.
“They have no legal authority to keep a dog from an owner,” she said. “They will say, ‘Well, we have adopted the dog.’ No. What they have done is taken someone’s lost property and sold it.”
While Hunt said she didn’t want to pursue legal action against the rescue group, she has been in touch with Anderson about help in getting her dogs back.
“I don’t want to sue them,” Hunt said. “I want to pay HBHR, pay the lady (who adopted them) and get our dogs back.”
Transcript of statement by attorney Anderson: “In Texas, when an owner is trying to find their dogs, they have not abandoned the dogs and have lost no interest in the dogs. The rescue organization, according to the law, is considered a finder of lost property and have no rights in that property unless the owner never comes forward…If the owner comes forward, the (rescue group and adopter) have a legal obligation to give those dogs back…They have no legal authority to keep a dog from an owner. They will say, ‘Well, we have adopted the dog.’ No. What they have done is taken someone’s lost property and sold it.”
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