Woman Reunited With Dog She Had to Leave During Hurricane
March 16, 2007 04:48 PM CDT A dog that survived Katrina's floodwaters only to be shipped several states away, and end up at the center of a court battle, is finally back in the arms of its owner. The pup's journey took it from Chalmette to Phoenix, Arizona. And with the legal wrangling now resolved, the dog hopped a flight to Baton Rouge, where a reunion that was 19 months in the making finally unfolded. Paula Duming says, "Look at my boy. He knows me. I love it." Life wasn't always this sweet for Paula Duming. She spent the last year and a half looking, then fighting in court, to get her dog, Pablo back. He was one of thousands of dogs separated from his owner during Hurricane Katrina. Duming says, "I felt depressed, sad, worrying, wondering if I'd ever get him back." Pablo made quite the journey. Best Friends Animal Society rescued him from his home in Chalmette and took him to Arizona, where he was put up for adoption. Ironically, Duming found Pablo while looking for a new pup. She says, "I went to Carencro to adopt a dog and they said, ‘No,' because I didn't have a fence. The girl gets on the computer and up popped Pablo." But, by the time she got that fence built, Pablo had already been adopted by Lee Kotinas, who later learned she was raising someone else's dog. But she says she got so attached that she just couldn't let him go, even after a judge told her she had to. Kotinas says, "The trauma of this little dog, what he went through, his feelings were never addressed." Duming says, "I believed they love Pablo very much. I just love him more." Duming is taking Pablo to her new home in Lafayette, where he'll be living in special quarters. "From what I hear, a lion can't even get out of this kennel. So, as far as being outside, I don't have to sit and watch him," Duming says. Well, she says she just may do that, just for a little while. Duming says, "He is too cute." Pablo is one of 6,000 dogs rescued in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=6237377 |
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| I can see both sides although it would have been a wonderful gesture had Lee Kotinas offered to give the dog back without a court battle. |
| If I honestly knew I adopted a hurricane victim's dog, there is no way I could ever really think it was my dog.
There apparently are quite a few of these cases going on. I know one person up her in PA area decided that they were giving the dog a better life since the original owner was rather poor and a court battle ensued about that too. |
| I am so happy this woman was reunited with her dog.
I have read numerous horror stories. About Shelters that rescued these dogs and adopting them out and refusing to give an info to the rightful owners. 
There is a beautiful Beardie right her in Southern CA that was rescued during Katrina. I was surprised nobody was searching for that dog. |
| I'll probably get hate mail for this but...didn't these people abandon the dogs already. Left them to suffer or die when the hurricane hit. To go through a court battle to get back a dog that you already abandoned seems really over the top to me. You lost your rights to them when you left them to suffer. My opinion is that they should never have got them back. Pam aka Simon's Mom |
| The problem during the hurricane was afterwards and the water started to rise and they started evacuating people - the powers that be would not let people take their pets with them. Since then they now have passed legislation that in the event that this happens again, people will be allowed to take their pets. |
| You know, I love animals, but if one person dies because everyone gets to take their dogs....
What a tragedy that would be. Can you imagine the political fallout? |
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