Question
I work with a small rescue. We have an adopter who after the adoption discovered the dog was pregnant. The adoption agreement does not deal with this issue. Now the puppies are 7 weeks old, and the adopter is claiming they are her dogs. Legally who owns the dogs?
New York, USA
Answer
A very good reason to spay/neuter prior to adoption!
New York State law states, in part:
No animal shelter, pound, dog control officer, humane society, dog or cat protective association, or duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shall release any dog or cat for adoption to any person unless prior thereto:
(a) the dog or cat has been spayed or neutered; or
(b) the person intending to adopt the dog or cat shall have executed a written agreement with the animal shelter, pound, dog control officer, humane society, dog or cat protective association, or duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, to have the dog or cat spayed or neutered within thirty days from the adoption date, or in the case of a dog or cat which has not yet reached sexual maturity, within thirty days of the dog or cat reaching six months of age…
It is unclear from your inquiry whether the rescue complied with this law. In any event, after adoption the adopter generally has full rights to the adopted animal subject to the terms of the adoption agreement. If the adoption agreement does not specify that the rescue has rights to any litter born to the adopted animal, the adopter would normally have rights to the offspring of the adopted animal. However, if the adopter did not comply with the adoption agreement by failing to have the dog spayed within the time specified in the agreement, the rescue may still have a winnable argument. If a lawsuit is commenced to get custody of the puppies, the court will consider the evidence and decide. I cannot predict how the court will decide the case.
You may wish to have an attorney review all of the relevant documents and advise. To avoid adding to the overpopulation of dogs, perhaps the rescue can help financially with having these puppies spayed/neutered when they are old enough for the procedure. I hope this works out well for the dog and her puppies!
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