ALBURY Council says the Albury-Wodonga pound acted illegally in adopting out a dog that escaped from its home while its owner was on holiday.
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Mayor Kevin Mack said the dog, one of two Maltese terriers picked up by rangers on December 28, would be returned to its rightful owner.
The council will also make enquiries as to how the other dog was taken from the pound by a vigilante dog-lover inspired by a Facebook post from the owner a few days ago.
The NSW Companion Animals Act states an impounded dog can only be put up for adoption if not claimed by the owner within 14 days.
“It would appear there’s been a breach of this legislation and the dog has been adopted out early,” Cr Mack said.
“We do have an obligation to return the dog to its rightful owner and we will be undertaking an investigation into how the adoption occurred and also how the second dog was removed from the facility.”
Albury woman Teressa Smith received the dogs from the previous owners back in June, but due to a death in the family at the time, forgot to update their microchips with her details.
This meant that when they were originally taken to the pound, the original owners were contacted – not Mrs Smith.
Mrs Smith was on holiday in New Zealand and had left her son in charge of the dogs when they escaped, and published a Facebook post earlier this week pleading for people to keep a look-out for them.
It was through that post she was informed by fellow users that the dogs had been listed for adoption on the pound’s website, and that one was re-homed.
Upon seeing Mrs Smith’s plight, Albury man David Clay took it upon himself to remove the other dog from the pound.
Mr Clay says he was able to walk into the pound, through a gate into where the dogs were kept, locate the dog and take it before staff caught on.
He said a flood of comments on Mrs Smith’s post was what motivated him to act.
“I felt the owner had a right to retrieve their dogs, even though they hadn’t gone by the exact letter of the law in terms of registering them with the council and updating the microchip,” he said.
“Their failure to do that doesn’t negate their ownership of the dogs.”
Cr Mack said the situation highlighted the importance of timely pet registration and microchipping.
“As pet owners we all have a responsibility to ensure that registration and microchip details are kept up to date so that if a dog or cat goes missing, it can be quickly reunited with its owner,” he said.
