Pet owner sues BC SPCA after lost dog was placed with another family

One search for a lost dog presumed dead turned into a tense custody battle between the original owner and the BC SPCA.

In a decision detailed by the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal, Dale Malkinson’s dog Zeva went missing on April 10, 2022. After searching around the neighbourhood and scouring online, Malkinson presumed that Zeva had been killed by a predator.

It turns out that Zeva had instead been found three days later on the side of a highway and was dropped off at the SPCA’s South Peace branch.

The decision detailed that the SPCA was unable to identify Zeva’s owner as they misread a letter of the dog’s faded identification tattoo, and that the contact on Zeva’s rabies tag was of someone else who did not respond to the voicemails left.

Zeva was transferred to an SPCA branch in Abbotsford for dental work and listed for adoption under the name “Delilah.”

That’s when things kicked off.

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Malkinson saw the advert but did not initially realize it was her dog, according to the documents. Nonetheless, she reached out to the SPCA to adopt “Delilah,” stating that the dog looked “very much like [her] Zeva.”

Unfortunately, the SPCA turned down Malkinson as they said that only local adoptions were being considered given the ongoing appointments for Zeva’s dental work in Abbotsford.

Zeva was entered into a foster-to-adopt program with an Abbotsford resident, who then adopted her on May 27, 2022. That very same day, Malkinson visited the SPCA branch where Zeva was originally brought and provided veterinary records showing her ownership.

Unfortunately for Malkinson, Zeva was already with the new owner.

Malkinson decided to file a lawsuit against the BC SPCA to reclaim Zeva as her own, arguing that they “stole” her dog and withheld information from her.

Under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (PCAA), the BC SPCA are entitled to give animals a new owner if the original owner was unknown and they held the animal for four days. Given this law, the court decided that the SPCA acted “reasonably and in good faith.”

Malkinson’s rights to claim Zeva no longer existed once the new owner adopted her under the PCAA laws, and as such, her case was dismissed.