Adoptive Family Gives WA Firefighter His Dog Back

After fighting a wildfire in Eastern Washington, Williams Jones of Battle Ground realized that his black Lab, Hunter, had run away from the dog sitter, was picked up by an animal shelter and adopted by another family.

Although the family was reluctant to return the dog to Jones last week, they had a change of heart over the weekend, according to the Humane Society for Southwest Washington.

“Hunter has been returned to the Humane Society by his adoptive family,” the shelter announced Sunday on Facebook. “They asked us to share with our (Facebook) friends that they are deeply saddened, but understand that William needs his dog.”

The Humane Society for Southwest Washington faced a backlash on social media after the adoption came to light. The Humane Society said the dog was found earlier this month by animal control officers, and Hunter didn’t have a chip or collar to help identify him.

Jones had left Hunter with a friend, but the dog hopped a fence and ran away, Jones reported last week on social media. When he learned that the dog was at the shelter, he called the Humane Society, but “they told me that he was adopted and there’s nothing they could do about it,” Jones wrote.

Any ID-less animal the shelter finds is kept for a three-day hold for strays, Humane Society President Stacy Graham said Friday. If they have tags or a chip, it’s five days. Staff posts photos of the animals on the Humane Society’s website and social media accounts, and they scour social media pages for reports of lost pets.

After the three-day holding period ended, shelter staff started the customary round of behavioral evaluations, medical examinations and medical procedures to make sure Hunter was ready for adoption. On the seventh day the Humane Society had him, they put Hunter up for adoption, and a new family picked him up on the 10th day.

No one came forward and no report of a missing Lab like Hunter was made during those 10 days, Graham said. The Humane Society soon learned from Facebook that Jones had been fighting a wildfire and they reached out to him to talk about what happened.

Without the cooperation of the dog’s new family, however, there was little the Humane Society could do, Graham said. When an animal is adopted from the shelter, ownership of the pet goes to the family that adopts it.

Graham said the Humane Society asked the new owners if they’d be willing to part with Hunter, but they declined at first, saying they’d bonded with the animal. Because they changed their minds, the dog will be reunited with Jones as soon as he completes his firefighting work, the Humane Society said.

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