Joey Gum, 3, posed with his family's new pet puppy, Dakota, last night at their Nuuanu home. The 6-week-old Rottweiler mix puppy was a present from the humane society as compensation for the Gums' lost dog, Lucky.
Owner loses found dog
in shelter mix-upThe pet is given to a second
guardian after a chip goes unchecked
CORRECTION
Friday, July 30, 2004Linda Haller is the Hawaiian Humane Society's director of shelter operations. A Page A13 article Sunday misspelled her last name as Holler. Also, an Aiea woman who had been caring for the dog before it got loose picked up the dog from the Humane Society on April 9, not April 16 as incorrectly reported.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.
Corinne Gum was thrilled. Nine months after her dog Lucky ran away, he was found and turned in to the Hawaiian Humane Society.
But when the Nuuanu woman arrived to pick up Lucky, she learned her pet had been given to another woman.
Microchips' role in identifying lost pets
>> Pets that are brought to the shelter with identification are held for a minimum of nine days before they are available for adoption. Without identification, they are held for 48 hours.
>> A lost animal report filed with the Hawaiian Humane Society is active for 30 days.
>> A microchip that contains a pet owner's information is about the size of a grain of rice and is implanted permanently like a vaccination between the pet's shoulder blades. A microchip can be scanned at most veterinary clinics.
>> The Hawaiian Humane Society returned over 400 lost cats and 1,126 dogs to their homes from July 2002 to June 2003 thanks to microchipping.
>> Pet owners can have a microchip implanted for their pets for $5 at 17 veterinary clinics during August, which is Microchip Madness Month. Microchipping usually costs $25 to $30.
SOURCE: Hawaiian Humane Society
"We were so excited. It gave us hope for a second chance," said Gum, who still gets emotional when thinking about Lucky. "Instead, someone else beat us to the punch."
Apparently, when Lucky ran away from Gum's home last July, an Aiea woman found the 6-month-old puppy and raised it until Lucky got away from the other woman's home in April, said Linda Holler, director of shelter operations at the Hawaiian Humane Society.
A humane society employee failed to check if Lucky belonged to the woman who claimed the dog, even though Lucky had a microchip that showed Gum was the pet's original owner.
The incident raises questions about procedures at the humane society.
"It is very unusual that two guardians would come looking for the same dog," said Jacque Smith, spokeswoman for the Humane Society. "We truly do everything we can to get these microchipped animals home."
A microchip, with information on the pet's owner, is implanted like a vaccination by a veterinarian.
"What's the point in having these implemented if it doesn't guarantee a person's ownership of a pet?" Gum said.
"There was an error on the employee's part," said Holler. "There is no perfect system. It wasn't going to be a win-win situation for everybody."
The Aiea woman who now has Lucky claimed to have had him for nine months, and the dog reacted to her in a positive, excited manner, Holler said.
Holler tried contacting the Aiea woman, but she did not return her calls, she said.
When Lucky was found on April 8, the humane society scanned Lucky's microchip, and when they couldn't contact Gum by telephone, they sent a letter to her home.
Gum got the letter on April 17 and immediately drove to the humane society, but by then the Aiea woman, who had been looking for the dog, found and claimed Lucky on April 16, Holler said.
"We were upset and devastated," said Gum. "It would've been better if they didn't notify us at all. It brought up all these emotions of anger and sadness again."
As compensation for Lucky, the humane society gave Gum a 6-week-old Rottweiler mix puppy Tuesday night, but the family still feels an injustice was done to them.
"I'm happy with this new dog, but I'm still sad and upset that we don't have Lucky," Gum said. "Ideally, Lucky would have been the best resolution. It feels like he still belongs to us."
Hawaiian Humane Society
www.hawaiianhumane.org
