Sick of Bondi BS and the local Florida press. Anyone else?I will take my chances with the real owners of the dogs even though they have limited resources to take on someone as connected as these people. Anyone that has ever had to fight for what is right in the face of total beuracracy should be rooting for this dog to go home.
Read a detailed article about this.Pam Bondi fell in love with a dog. That is a fact. The problem is she fell in love with someone elses dog and now her only defense is to claim that the owners were neglectful owners, as we have heard in almost 100% of these Katrina situations. The dogs Nila and Master Tank were loved and cared for by a family and two young children in New Orleans. The dog was NEVER abondoned by the owners, The Coutures. Bad owners do not spend money and months of their lives trying to get their dogs back when they have lost everything and have a life to rebuild. They did everything they were susposed to do in a state of emergency and took the pets to a shelter for safe keeping, no different than if you or I took our dogs to the local kennel while we went away for the weekend.
Notice: It says "OWNED" and not "please take me to Florida, use me for PR, don't call my owners, don't put me on petfinder.com, lie to my owners when they call the shelter, seperate me from my lifelong companion Nila, and adopt me out as soon as possible." THIS DOG WAS OWNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yet, anyone who went to New Orleans knows all to well the attitude of many shelters and rescuers who were blaming the victims for the tragic loss of their pets and then virtually taking them them never with any intention of finding any owners. Get me in court and I will tell what I saw with my own eyes. Not to mention that within weeks of me being back I was getting calls about dogs whose tags were removed at shelters, owners who were blatantly lied to by the shelters about the dog even being at the shelter. (I have never met a bad owner that chased a dog all the way to Florida for 10 months, stood up to deception, and other things that are being said all the descredit good people so they can't get a family member back.) This is exactly what happened here. Having been through it on dozens of other cases. Had this been a dog from anywhere other than New Orleans with PAPERWORK that clearly said OWNED all over it these dogs owners would have been found and the dog never rushed into an adoption. The shelter may have not even made a single phone call to try to find the owners or inquire of St. Bernard reps. Shelters are not for stealing dogs from helpless victims, they are for sheltering unwanted dogs and finding them homes.
Let me promise you anyone who called Pinellas about any dogs can tell you how they treated anyone trying to get a dog back for an owner -- horrible, dispicable, rude, and mean spirited. As if it was not their job to take calls from helpless and desperate people looking for their animal family members after the worst natural disaster in the history of the USA>
That goes for Tri-County, Peggy Adams, and other Florida shelters...they were some of the worst in the country with their attitudes.
Now the Coutures face an onslaught of well thought out propoganda and deception by Bondi who has the upper hand in this game (because of her status as a Lawyer Celebrity for CNN and others) in the campaign to paint them as abusive pet owners. Shame, shame, Shame. If these were my dogs I'd die trying to get them back and that is what owners do when they love their pets. But barely a hand of compassion has been handed to the Coutures from anyone in the entire state. You should be ashamed of your lack of understanding pf what Katrina victims went through to survive. I was their with them were any of you? Certainly Mrs. Bondi wasn't with these people in either body or spirit and that is typical of what Katrina survivors are going through whether it be over dog, or insurance or anything else. Pam Bondi recently quoted as saying she deserves the dogs both legally and ethically. Bullshit! These dogs were not simply Florida strays where an owner had to simply drive two miles to the local shelter to find them. They were virtaully picked off by overzealous shelters and by people who knew they had an owner and felt that "a better life exists" with the likes that live in Florida. Well Bondi and Pinellas are showing that Florida lacks compassion at all levels. The Florida press seems prepared not to ask hard questions of either Bondi or Pinellas, recently writing a story glorifying Mrs. Bondi. Where is the story detailing the day to day struggles of the Coutures from the day they ended up in their attic for many nights, 6 miles from dry land to their search for their beloved pets. Her behavior is nothing short of dispicable. At least the holders of the other dog Nila keep quite unlike Bondi who runs her trap constantly insinuating that the dogs were not cared for. The Coutures for all they have been through have yet to raise their voices or cast a stone at anyone, the worst they have done is travel to Florida to hold a press conference to beg for their dogs back. Much like The Gulf is having to beg for help at all levels to rebuild.
These dogs look abused or neglected to you? Nila in foreground and Master Tank in rear, lifelong companions until now. Has Bondi even thought or had time to have a playdate with Nila? I bet not with her busy lifestyle...Yet the dogs live just miles apart.
Look at this dog. Bondi has her best CNN face on but does this dog really look happy? Mrs. Bondi must work long hours as an attorney. In New Orleans this dog had Nila his daily companion, 2 kids that played with him daily, a swimming pool, constant love and attention. You telling me being locked in Kim Bondi's house 12 hours a day and getting walked by some "pet walker" in the middle of the day is a life this dog wants? Like the people of New Orleans this dog wants his former life back. He doesn't even know what hit him just that his world was turned upside down, he lost his best friend, Nila (the second dog, his family and now he is posing for pictures and told to "put on a happy face"
He ain't happy.
Look at his eyes.
Why is it that arrogance always comes with success? Why is it that people take the side of a well known Attorney like Bondi vs. people who have lost everything and love their dogs and did the right thing for them during Katrina in a overwhelming situation? We have seen good people all over the country return adopted pets when owners came forward. Did Bondi not watch the news the week of Katrina and see what these people have been through? This is no different than if I took my dogs to the kennel while I went away for the weekend and came back to a dog that had been shipped out to FLORIDA. Would anyone argue that I couldn't get my dogs back?
What if the storm had been in Florida and it was Florida residents who had their dogs moved to shelters all over the country without an inkling of care about finding owners. Bondi and clan would be fighting just as hard to prosecute these people and get Florida dogs back. Falling in love with a dog doesn't mean you have to twist and spin the truth to keep it Mrs. Bondi. This could have had a good outcome. You could have helped this family get back on it feet. You could have shared in the dogs life. Now you are going to go to court and wake up one day without the dog. PERIOD. Your pain could have been managed.
I want you to shut your eyes and think about the feeling the Coutures family had in the pit of their stomach the day they went back to the St. Bernard shelter where the dogs were taken by them for safe keeping to be told..."nope no longer here." ..then the frantic months of searching wondering if you would ever see your babies again....(bad pets owners don't search) Anyone who loves their pets should have a hole in their stomachs like the Coutures do.
Here are the facts:a) The two 2 dogs were bonded – Couldn’t the case be made that two dogs that grow up together become closely bonded? That keeping these two dogs apart could cause long term depression and is itself a form of abuse to these dogs? Look at that dogs eyes. Look hard. They belong together. Make it happen Kim. Florida animal lovers should understand this and stop taking up for Mrs. Lawyer Barbie.
b) The pics of the dogs before Katrina show happy and healthy dogs with great weight, sparkle in their eyes, shiny/healthy coats and loving family. Bondi can make these folks out to be whatever she wants but it is a pack of lies. She has dogs that belong to someone and are loved by rightful owners. Sure she loves the dog but how much do you think the Coutures love them? They were part of the family for 4 years.
Bondi an Pinellas knew that the owners were looking within weeks of the adoption.
c) Legal adoption? Give me a break, these dogs should have not have ever been taken from the St. Bernard shelter, they were turned in for "safe keeping" and the paperwork clearly said 'OWNED" all over it with the Coutures names plainly written. Even St. Bernard animal control stands by that and by the Coutures. This is not normal animal control function for the Pinellas shelter. These dogs were actively taken from LA. It isn’t like they wondered in off the streets of Pinellas County and the owners were near the shelter so knew were to look during the “normal holding” time. No legal holding time could be binding. The owners didn't even know where to look. This is no different than if I took my dogs to the kennel while I went away for the weekend and came back on Monday to find them gone.
d) Pics at Camp lucky show healthy dogs not the dogs on deaths door (with a big sign on the dogs that says "OWNED"). But who the hell cares. You basically have to almost kill your dog in this country for a judge to take it, so this defense of keeping the dogs is just plain stupid. BTW- all the pics of the dogs before Katrina show healthy happy dog.
e) The dogs had heartworm. So what. This is the one they seem to be hinging the right to keep the dogs on. Having heartworm is something that happens to even good dog owners in LA and the dogs were being treated and that is exactly what you do to a sick dog, get it treated. You ever hear of a vet turning a person into the police for a dog having heartworm? Lets remember hear this family lost the parents of these grandchildren and I am sure during that troubling time these dogs might have missed a heartworm pill or two. Funny, I forgot to give my dogs the pill last month and nobody is here trying to take my dogs.
Bad owners do not spend money and months of their lives trying to get their dogs back when they have lost everything and have a life to rebuild.
The Coutures are virtual heros as many other would just say "we can't worry about the dogs in the face of losing everything" But no they fight on when I am sure they have better things to do than to BEG Pam Bondi to return part of their family.
Shame, shame, shame on Florida and Pam Bondi. Can they ever get a fair hearing? Everyone else in Florida seems willing to screw them so why not the judge who must know Pam Bondi as she is a well know prosecutor.
Pam..it is not too late. Instead of bashing these people, get to know them like we have...let them have the dog and be part of its life as I am sure you will not find nicer people than the Coutures. Not once has the man raised his voice. Not once has he threatened you. Not once has he embarrassed you in the press as you have him.
You will not continue to take advantage of those with less resources than yourself because people will not have it. When people know the truth they quickly change their attitude about the Coutures.
Anyone that owns a pet should be scared silly at this situation...anyone can take your pet (remember these dogs were not rescued, left behind or anything else) and then claim it is theirs.
Pam you are about to know how the Coutures felt that day they walked back into that shelter to be told "Your dogs that you got through Katrina alive by staying with them for days in the attic ARE GONE." Not a good feeling. I don't wish it on anyone not even you but you put yourself into this all or nothing position. Who knows had you sat down with the owners anything could have happened. As it stands you are going to lose unless Florida has no true justice.
Please see how it should go:
http://cbs3.com/video/?id=28242@kyw.dayport.com
Think Shelters didn't understand that Katrina dogs didn't mean big donations? Simply
google "Katrina Animal Rescue" and up pops Browards advertisment.
