Bondi tries to
hang on to Katrina dog by a toenail
The St. Bernard that
Pam Bondi adopted last year is not the same dog that
a
DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published October 28, 2006
And she
said the dog has the toenail to prove it.
"Everyone
assumed that it was the same dog from the outset," attorney Camille Godwin
said. "But the toenail is very convincing."
Bondi,
a
Steven
and Dorreen Couture of St. Bernard Parish,
During
a court hearing Friday, Bondi's attorneys focused on
one of the dog's toenails as a key difference between the animal that Bondi has and the one the Coutures
lost.
The
Sept. 18, 2005, paperwork from the makeshift shelter where Master Tank was
taken indicated that a "ingrown rear
toenail" had been removed. Godwin has sworn statements that say the dog
that Bondi adopted has all his nails.
Murray
Silverstein, the
"No,
the toenail was not taken out," Silverstein said. "The intake says it
was clipped, not taken out. Now we have this toenail as a basis of an identity
dispute."
Bondi,
the Coutures, and Rhonda Rineker
of
The
dogs were rescued by the Humane Society of Pinellas in September 2005 from St.
Bernard Parish, after Hurricane Katrina.
A short
time later, Bondi and Rineker
adopted the dogs. Bondi adopted the St. Bernard on
Oct. 15, 2005, and changed his name from Master Tank to Noah. Rineker adopted the shepherd-mix on Oct. 28 and changed her
name from Nila to Gracie.
On
Friday, the Coutures said finding their dogs was a
step toward pulling their lives back together. When they finally tracked them
down in January, even though they had paperwork listing them as the owners,
they were told that the dogs had been adopted.
But on
the witness stand, Bondi testified, "I don't
believe they are the owners of Noah."
Godwin
showed her a picture of the St. Bernard the day he was left at the makeshift
shelter and asked, "Is that Noah?"
"No,
ma'am," Bondi said sharply.
On the
stand, Steven Couture described how he, his brother-in-law David Johnson and
another relative were rescued by boat and taken to a nearby school but left
jugs of water and dog food behind for the dogs. A 50-pound bag of food was not
opened, and some of the jugged water was capped.
Rineker's attorney, Jeff Brown, asked how the dogs were expected to get into
the sealed items.
"Bite
into it," Steven Couture said. "It's a dog. It's survival."
Couture
said that by the time the dogs were rescued, the dog food was opened and the
bottles of water had been consumed.
Rineker
said she never wanted to be in this position. Her family had just lost a dog,
she testified. She said she saw Steven Couture's name on the paperwork as the
dog's owner, asked a Humane Society worker about it and was told that "dog
was surrendered."
"Our
dog had passed away and we were heartbroken, and I didn't want to lose another
dog," she said.
The
hearing continues 9:30 a.m. Monday. Andringa has not
indicated when he will make a ruling.
Demorris A. Lee can be reached at
445-4174 or dalee@sptimes.com.
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