LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - The fate of a lost German Shepherd puppy has caused a legal battle in Pulaski County — one that’s now headed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. But the tale of the dog, part of a championship bloodline, includes thorny issues around property ownership and due process.
A lost German Shepherd named Bibi was lost, found, sterilized and adopted.
That sequence of events has sparked a legal battle that began last year in Pulaski County Circuit Court. The dog’s owner — Darryl Lunon, a Pulaski County dog breeder — planned to use Bibi as a breeding dog. Lunon paid $2,300 for the dog because of its championship bloodline.
But Bibi escaped Lunon’s backyard on Valentine’s Day 2017 and was later picked up by Pulaski County Sanitation & Animal Services. Even though it’s Pulaski County policy, the animal officer didn’t scan Bibi for microchips, which would have identified the dog’s owner.
The dog was held for five days while Lunon searched and at the end of the holding period, Bibi was spayed, ruining her chances to breed, and then put up for adoption. Lunon later traced the dog to the animal shelter, but by then she had new owners. He sued to get his dog back from the couple that adopted her and won in circuit court in September.
Since then, Lunon has amended his complaint to include claims against the county and the city of North Little Rock for violations of due process of law under the state and U.S. Constitutions. His attorney, Kenya Davenport of Little Rock, alleged that county animal services should have followed policy and scanned Bibi for a microchip to help find her owner.
She said the county and city deprived Lunon of his property without providing him notice and an opportunity to be heard before they took his property away. They are seeking what could amount to thousands of dollars in damages.
Meanwhile, the attorney representing the county, Colin Jorgensen of Little Rock, is arguing that the failure to scan the dog for a microchip is not a violation of the owner’s due-process rights — nor was it unconstitutional.
The case is now headed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals after a judge refused to find the city and county victorious before trial. In his ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Brian S. Miller wrote that before the government deprives a citizen of his property, the citizen is entitled to be notified and be heard.
The case underscores that, while dogs are often merely pets, they can big significant sources of income, particularly when they have documented, high-quality bloodlines.
These cases are not unusual.
Rebecca F. Wisch is an attorney at the Animal Legal & Historical Center at the Michigan State University College of Law. She said there have been cases in which a dog’s breeding potential have been factored into market-value damages.
Read more on the Arkansas Business website.