Update July 12 -- The hearing originally scheduled for yesterday was cancelled, and a jury trial has been set in the case for November 13. The judge has ordered that the dogs remain with their new owners until the trial.
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Special to the Legal Animal -- Well-publicized case features a dispute over whether pre-Katrina owners took adequate care of “Master Tank” the St Bernard, now in the care of a high-profile Florida prosecuting attorney.
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Photo: Master Tank in 2004. Battles over the custody of Katrina animals can get ugly. Very ugly. Case in point: The struggle over ownership of Master Tank and Nila.
The case ultimately will be decided in court, with the first hearing set for next Tuesday.
But meanwhile, the controversy over these dogs is being played out on an international stage, with media coverage spreading all the way from Florida to Australia, and opinions likewise weighing in on blogs, opinion polls, and editorials from across the globe.
Should the dogs be returned to their pre-Katrina owners, Steve and Dorreen Couture? Or, do they have better homes with their new custodians, including high-profile prosecutor Pam Bondi? Did the dogs receive adequate medical care from the Coutures? Does that even matter?
The controversy strikes at the heart of everything that is difficult about the Katrina owner cases: Are they relatively simple questions of legal ownership? Or, should what is best for the dogs be considered? If so, who is to determine that?
Prior to filing a lawsuit last week demanding the return of the dogs, the Coutures traveled to Florida to make a personal plea for the animals. Adding to the emotion of their plea was the presence of their two grandchildren, Steven, 4, and Cassidy, 7.
The children lost both their parents shortly before Katrina. Then Katrina came, and took their home, and all that they had to remember their parents by.
Now, Mrs. Couture can’t understand why the family is also being deprived of its dogs.
“I just can’t believe it, how could somebody be so cruel and heartless?” she asks. “Knowing we lost everything, all our personal belongings. For our grandchildren, all their memories, their belongings, their parents’ belongings in the house are gone. Now, all we want is to get our dogs back.”
But Bondi also has an emotional appeal to make. She adopted Master Tank the St. Bernard, whom she renamed Noah, and says that she saved his life -- following what she says was long-term medical neglect by the Coutures and a severe heartworm infestation.
She says she will not send Noah back to the Coutures, where she believes he may die.
“When I adopted him, to me it’s like adopting a child, you promise to take care of them and give them the best medical treatment possible,” Bondi says.
Photo: The Coutures make a public plea for the return of their dogs. Photo by the St. Petersburg Times. The Coutures' reluctant evacuation. The Coutures say they never wanted to leave Master Tank and Nila, a shepherd mix, behind. In fact, Mr. Couture stayed with the dogs through the hurricane in their house in St. Bernard Parish, while Mrs. Couture and the children evacuated to cramped quarters with family members in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Then, after the hurricane passed, eight feet of water flooded the house, and Mr. Couture moved the dogs to the top floor of the house. In addition to Master Tank and Nila, the Coutures had a Chihuahua named Sandy, and were keeping two other dogs for a relative.
But when the boats came around to evacuate, they were only taking people – no pets.
“My husband, brother, and nephew had to swim to the boat. They couldn’t even take the Chihuahua because of how they had to swim – they had to swim under the doorframes just to get outside,” says Mrs. Couture.
So Mr. Couture left the dogs in the house with all the food and water he could find. After spending three nights at St. Bernard High School, he took a barge up the river, and then a bus to Baton Rouge, and was then finally able to join the rest of his family in Lafayette.
“I asked him about the dogs, and he was very upset, especially when he had to tell our grandchildren,” Mrs. Couture recalls. “He broke down then, because he told the grandchildren that he’d take care of the dogs, and then he had to leave them behind.”
After almost two weeks the water had receded, and Mrs. Couture’s brother was able to use family connections with the sheriff’s department to sneak back into the parish to see the dogs. He was able to smuggle the Chihuahua out by hiding her under a shirt, but could only leave food and water for the other dogs.
He told his sister that he thought the dogs would be better off with Camp Lucky, an animal rescue camp established by the National Guard.
“He could see the dogs weren’t doing well, they were drinking the toxic water, so he said they needed help, and he asked if we wanted to bring them to the temporary shelter,” Mrs. Couture recalls. “So he took them to Camp Lucky, and asked them to keep them until we could reclaim them.”
The dogs were checked in at Camp Lucky on September 18, marked as “owned,” with Mr. Couture’s name listed on their paperwork.
Photo: Master Tank is pictured during intake at Camp Lucky. Controversy begins with actions of humane society. Master Tank and Nila were transported to the Pinellas Humane Society in Florida on Sept. 21, two of 288 hurricane animals the humane society took in. According to the Coutures’ lawsuit, Master Tank was then released to Bondi on October 14, and Nila was released to a woman named Rhonda Rineker on October 28.
Humane society officials say they followed county law, which required that groups taking animals from disaster areas hold them for 30 days before adoptions become final. Representatives of the humane society also claim that they did their best to find the owners of the dogs, although officials have declined to say publicly what actions were taken.
The Coutures finally tracked down the location of their dogs in January, after finding copies of the original paperwork from the Camp Lucky files.
They were aided in contacting the Pinellas Humane Society by Ceily Trog, manager of St. Bernard Parish Animal Control, and a well-respected local leader in animal welfare.
Trog said she could not even get the director of the Pinellas Humane Society, Rick Chaboudy, to return her phone calls. Then, other people working with the Coutures obtained the names of the board members of the humane society, and also began to contact local officials to complain.
Eventually, in March, people working on behalf of the Coutures were able to obtain the spreadsheet of information about the Katrina dogs at Pinellas, with the help of Dr. Kenny Mitchell, Pinellas County’s director of veterinary services.
In the midst of all this controversy, Chaboudy abruptly resigned from his post at the humane society, which he had held for nearly 20 years. As a result of coverage of the Coutures’ dilemma, the county adopted an ordinance in June that mandates that all adoptions of animals rescued from an emergency situation would be conditional for six months.
Trog says dealing with the Pinellas Humane Society was a struggle from the beginning. Far from doing everything they could to locate owners, she believes the staff of the humane society was obstructionist and dishonest – at one time even claiming that the paperwork for Master Tank and Nila indicated they had been surrendered by their owners.
“We heard just one lie after another, anything to keep these people from getting back their pets, as if they hadn’t been through enough,” she says. “They are asking in the papers, ‘Why did it take these owners so long to come forward?’ Well, it took them so long because the humane society obscured where the animals were, downright lied, and didn’t give people a chance to reclaim them.”
On the other hand, the attorney for the humane society has maintained that the society’s actions were proper.
“We did our best to find owners. . . .We believe we acted appropriately at all times, and we are comfortable with the things we did,” society attorney Louis Kwall told the St. Petersburg Times.
Max, the “forgotten” Pinellas dog. Usually forgotten during the well-publicized controversy over the Coutures’ dogs is Max, a Jack Russell terrier who also went through the Pinellas Humane Society, and whose new owner is also refusing to return him.
Before Katrina, Max belonged to Victor Marino, also of St. Bernard Parish. Marino got Max from his brother about three years before Katrina struck.
“I got engaged and got married, and then got divorced, and he was like my best friend through all of that. Our bond got even tighter, because he helped to fill a bit of a void after I lost my wife,” Marino says.
As Katrina approached and gained strength, Marino called a long list of hotels, looking for someplace where he could evacuate with his two dogs, Max and a shepherd mix named Sinatra. He didn’t find one.
“I had decided to leave on short notice, it seemed like overnight the hurricane went from a category three to a five…once I found a place I found out I wasn’t going to be able to take my dogs with me,” he says. “I wasn’t going to take them and just leave them in the car, that would be inhumane, so I left them in the best conditions I could.”
Marino left the dogs on the top floor of the duplex, with five-gallon jugs of food and water.
Like many, Marino expected that he would be back in two or three days. Thanks to family connections with the police department, he was able to come back sooner than most, returning to his home in about 10 days, as soon as the water was drained from his area.
He found that his house had gotten about 11 feet of water, reaching about a foot and half into the second floor.
“I walked up to the house and started looking around, hoping the dogs might still be in there, thinking the best and the worst,” he recalls. “Then I saw two sets of pawprints coming out of the window area, and walking around in the mud. It really made me feel good, it
gave me a boost of hope knowing that they were still alive.”
Marino never found Sinatra. But in January, he found that Max had been rescued by Camp Lucky and then sent to the Pinellas Humane Society. Like the Coutures, he found that the humane society was uncooperative, refusing to return phone calls or provide him with information about his dog. Then he found that Max had been adopted out to a new owner, despite the fact that he was microchipped and wearing St. Bernard Parish rabies tags.
According to Marino, he has spoken to Max’s new custodian, who has renamed him Joey, and she refused to return him, commenting that she fell “in love at first sight” and that the dog helped to fill a void inside of her.
Marino says he took the best care he could of his dogs – they were both neutered, up to date on shots, and microchipped, and spent all of their time inside with him.
“They were like family, you know, and something that you hold that close to you, it kills you not to have them around. It is horrible when they are not there,” he says.
Marino says he intends to do whatever he needs to, including filing a lawsuit if necessary, to reclaim his dog.
“Bottom line, I will get him back, because what they did was not right. I know I have the right to get my dog back. I know it’s just a matter of time,” he says.
Photo: Pam Bondi appears on MSNBC to discuss a legal issue. Bondi claims she saved dog from death. The new custodians of Max have not come forward to make any allegations that Marino failed to properly care for his dog.
Not so in the case of Master Tank, and now, Nila.
Hillsborough County Prosecutor Pam Bondi, who adopted Master Tank from the Pinellas Humane Society, is no stranger to the media. As a legal commentator and spokeswoman for the state attorney, she has appeared regularly on NBC and Fox national talk shows.
Bondi’s fame has helped to make the case of Master Tank an international media event. And unlike the people who currently have Nila and Max, Bondi has been willing to talk to the media about her reasons for refusing to return the dog, whom she calls Noah.
“I know what it is like to lose an animal,” she says, referring to the recent loss of her St. Bernard, Donovan, to cancer. “ If Noah had been well cared for, if those people had come forward a year from now, and, number one, had a good reason for leaving him, and number two, had taken care of him, I would return him myself. In my mind, morally there wouldn’t have been a time limit.”
However, Bondi says the Coutures kept Master Tank outside, even in extremely high temperatures that are particularly unhealthy for a St. Bernard who “gets hot walking around the block.”
Most importantly, when she adopted him, Bondi says Master Tank was emaciated, full of intestinal worms, had a broken nose, eye and ear infections, stomach problems, and severe heartworm disease.
Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal condition caused by parasitic worms living in the arteries of the lungs and in the right side of the heart. It takes six to seven months from the point of infection from a mosquito for the worms to mature. The disease is prevalent in Southern states such as Louisiana, and easily preventable with a monthly pill.
Bondi assumes that some of Master Tank's problems came as a result of the ordeal the dog endured during Katrina. But other problems, such as the heartworm infection, she says were the result of long-term medical neglect.
“They had taken over his heart, there were so many that they had taken over his lungs, he was on eight types of medication four times a day when I got him,” she says. “He was so sick that he couldn’t be treated for heartworm for two months, and then it was touch and go. He is a walking miracle today.”
If she were to send Master Tank back to the Coutures, Bondi worries, he might not get the ongoing medical care he needs, and his condition could deteriorate. For this reason, she sees no possibility of compromise.
“He’s happy, and he’s well adjusted, but he’s still battling a lot of health issues, and he’s got a long way to go,” she says.
Although Rhonda Rineker, who now has Nila, has refused to talk to the media, Bondi says that Rineker contacted her to tell her that Nila was also infested with heartworms, and in poor physical health.
Bondi’s veterinarian, Dr. Edward Garcia, concurs with her assessment of Master Tank’s health.
“He was absolutely in danger of death, and untreated he would have died,” he says, adding that Bondi helped build the dog back up with lots of love and special care, including medications and nutrional supplements.
In addition to health problems caused by events related to the hurricane, Garcia confirms that the dog had a severe case of heartworm that had existed for a significant period of time before Katrina. Even without the hurricane aggravating his health condition, he says the dog would have been in grave danger of death if he hadn’t received extensive medical treatment very soon.
He says that the St. Bernard could still develop complications down the road, from lasting damage the heartworms might have caused to his heart and lungs.
“This dog, in my opinion, was probably neglected – not abused, but neglected, either because the people didn’t have the knowledge or didn’t have the funds,” he says. “But just because they didn’t take good care of the dog medically, doesn’t mean they don’t love the dog.”
For their part, the Coutures maintain that they took proper care of their dogs, and made frequent visits to the veterinarian. When they took in Master Tank at 10 months old, he had a heartworm infection which they say was treated, adding that they have kept both dogs up to date on shots and heartworm preventative.
The veterinary clinic that treated the Coutures’ dogs was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and their vet has subsequently moved out of the area and could not be reached for comment.
However, Trog says the records from Camp Lucky indicate that both dogs were reasonably healthy and were administered routine treatment for intestinal worms. She also maintains that the veterinarians at Camp Lucky would never have approved the long transport to Florida if the animals were seriously ill.
“These lies about Master Tank’s health are also a slap in the face of the veterinarians who volunteered in the disaster area. …Ms. Bondi and her vet are saying that the veterinarians who saw Master Tank were incompetent and their treatment was ineffective,” Trog says.
Bondi responds that she has nothing but respect for the vets who worked in the disaster area, and that she credits them with helping to save Master Tank's life, among many others.
However, she says, these veterinarians were working on triage in a disaster zone, and could not have been expected to diagnose conditions such as advanced heartworm disease.
"I have always maintained that these selfless doctors who came from around the country to volunteer in deplorable conditions and set up a triage to save hundreds of animals . . . are true heroes," she says.
Photo: Master Tank and Nila are pictured together in 2004, in one of the few photos the Coutures were able to rescue from the flood. Coutures file lawsuit for return of dogs. Although Master Tank and Nila were outside dogs, Mrs. Couture says her husband took wonderful care of them, to the point that her mom referred to them as “Steve and his babies.”
“They were outside dogs, but it is not like they were kept on chains or in a small yard. They had a large yard to run around in, they were fed and watered, they had a swimming pool in the back, they had a dog house, they were given their baths weekly,” she says.
Mrs. Couture says the family has now moved into a four-bedroom house with an acre of land, and is fully prepared to take care of the dogs again.
“They were well taken care of, they were loved, and it is time for them to come home,” she says.
Mrs. Couture says that Master Tank and Nila, both four years old, were absolutely devoted to each other, and one of her biggest concerns is that they have been separated.
“I would feel so much better if they were at least together. They never should have separated them,” she says. “They lost us, and then they lost each other.”
With the help of a pro bono attorney, the Coutures filed a lawsuit last week, asking for the courts to force the return of Master Tank and Nila. In addition, the lawsuit seeks actual damages and costs from the Pinellas Humane Society, which it charges with negligence in adopting the dogs out when it was clear they had owners.
The lawsuit also claims the humane society didn’t even follow county law, by failing to hold the dogs for 10 days at the shelter and make a diligent search for their owners.
A hearing has been set for Tuesday to make an initial determination as to the probable ownership of the dogs, pending a final adjudication.
The judge is unlikely to take into consideration matters such as the dogs’ pre-existing health problems and medical care, or their attachment to their pre-Katrina owners. Dogs are considered property under the law, and provisions are rarely made to consider what is in the best interests of the animal.
In a similar case decided earlier this year in New Jersey, a judge ruled that a dog must be returned to a family who had turned him over to the Lamar-Dixon shelter for temporary care after Hurricane Katrina. In
Arguello v. Behmke, the judge ruled that "a bailment agreement" was created between the owners and the shelter, and that the pre-Katrina owners maintained legal ownership of the dog, even after he was adopted to another family.
The attorney for the Coutures says that their ownership of the dogs is clear.
“[Bondi and Rineker] don’t have a lawful right to retain possession of the two dogs, because the Coutures have always been the owners,” attorney Murray B. Silverstein told the St. Petersburg Times.
In addition to finding a pro bono attorney, the Coutures will also receive some financial assistance in their lawsuit from a fund that has been set up through the
Friends of the Animal Shelter of St. Bernard. According to Trog, the organization got a $13,000 donation from a vet association in Virginia, and the membership decided to establish a fund to help with transport and litigation expenses for St. Bernard residents seeking the return of their pets.
“To have all of this happen was a crying shame. To lose everything and then have to deal with this is just a sin, it really is,” Trog says.
Jane Morgan, a Mississippi attorney who has been aiding Victor Marino, says he is also considering a lawsuit, and is looking for a pro bono attorney in Florida.
“He does not have the money to pursue litigation, but when somebody loves their dog, money is not going to stop them, he will find some way to do it,” Morgan says.
Morgan says she hopes the publicity surrounding the Couture case will help to convey the message that other shelters and individuals around the country should return Katrina pets to their owners.
“There are so many homeless animals around the country, I think it is wonderful when people want to adopt dogs. But there are plenty of dogs to be adopted, so give Max back to his owner, give Nila and Master Tank back, and go adopt a dog who has no home,” she says. “It is very hard to understand why people want to adopt a dog who belongs to people who have nothing else in the world at this point.”
Should Master Tank, Nila, and Max be returned to their owners? Does it matter whether or not Master Tank had pre-existing medical problems that had gone untreated? Visit our Forums section to make your comments on this case. Please see previous stories in this series about Katrina victims who are filing suit to reclaim their animals:
Should Katrina pets always be returned to their original owners?
Elderly Katrina victim fights to be reunited with his closest companion.