Shelter/Pound neutered dog without permission, knowing it was ours and a hunting dog.

Question

Somehow our $2,000 hunting dog got out and we didn't know where he was until we called the pound which at that point they knew it was our dog and that it was an expensive hunting dog, which we also breed and has papers, the whole nine. Then fast forward a couple days and we go to pick him up and they have us sit and wait and talk to a bunch of people, who then proceed to tell us he should stay another day. At which point we asked why, and they told us he had been neutered and treated for heartworms. So we want a lawsuit taken against them if at all possible. Surely they can't grab peoples dogs and do things to the animal against the owners knowledge or consent and get away with it. Thanks in advance.

Answer

You are lucky that your dog ended up at a shelter and not forever lost or worse. Spay/neuter laws vary throughout the country. Some municipalities (such as New York City) have laws requiring shelters to spay/neuter before returning dogs and cats to their “parents” although most spay/neuter laws pertain only to spaying/neutering prior to adoption. There are also laws throughout the country that require shelters to hold animals for a minimum number of days in order to give the animals’ “parents” an opportunity to reclaim their missing pets. If an animal is not retrieved by an animal’s “parent” within the legal hold time, the animal’s “parent” usually loses rights to the animal at which time the shelter can spay/neuter the animal. Local laws should be reviewed. People who believe they are owed money, such as the difference in monetary value between an unspayed/unneutered animal and a spayed/neutered animal, can sue to try to get compensated.