Pet Rescues or Pet stealing?

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

Today, Mr. Cavalier is living in an apartment in Houston, waiting for a new home in New Orleans. Bandit was last seen somewhere in the Pittsburgh area, brought here by the head of a local animal rights group and given to a woman whose attorney has suggested Mr. Malvin, 86, was unfit to care for the animal.

"It's my dog. She has no right to it. That's just stealing," Mr. Cavalier said.

The battle pits Mr. Cavalier, a retired sheet-metal worker and widower, against Lisa Fox, whose last address was in McCandless. Mr. Cavalier's attorney has been unable to find her.

Eric Rice, an Annapolis, Md., businessman who joined in animal rescues after Katrina, said he has encountered hundreds of cases of shelters that put up pets for adoption without first attempting to find owners, as well as cases of advocacy groups that simply assume any pet left behind was neglected.

Thanks to "Spirits Mom" for pointing this one out.