Turning in a lost or stray dog over to the animal shelter is understandable. But when that dog has an owner and you knowingly leave it at the pound is something else entirely. Unfortunately, it is not against the law in New South Wales, Australia where this happened.

Fortunately, the story does have a happy ending, though, the woman who dumped him at the pound has been scorned by people on the Internet.

Turned into the animal shelter

Reddit user thecharliezard, posted about the incident on the r/trashy feed on Reddit:

“The pound posted these photos a couple of hours ago to try to find the original owner if it’s not this lady. Already several people have offered to adopt this dog if the owner isn’t found, so he is safe!”

It seemed the woman had dropped the poor dog off in one of the shelter’s overnight cages, designed to allow people to drop off lost dogs they had found but didn’t want to take care of overnight. And while she wasn’t the dog’s owner, she actually knew who was, her brother.

“Unfortunately, people like this woman take advantage of it as a free way to dump their dog,” thecharliezard said on the Reddit post.

Adding insult to injury

Why she did such a heinous act is still up for debate.

At least she was kind enough to tell shelter staff the poor boy’s name, Staunch before she left. She did so by writing it on the door. Once staff arrived, Staunch was scanned for a microchip in the hopes it could be determined who he belonged to. Unfortunately, he did not have one.

To add insult to injury, the crass woman decided to leave the dog with a parting gesture, giving him the middle as she prepared to leave. Unfortunately, turning a dog into an animal shelter in Australia is not a crime and she is not expected to be charged.

Trying to find Staunch’s owner

According to shelter staff, Staunch was heartbroken by his abandonment and didn’t even want to get out of his kennel. The shelter shared his picture online in the hopes of finding his real owner. They didn’t have much hope in finding out more about Staunch but knew they had to try.

So, they were surprised when his owner contacted them.

According to Staunch’s owner, he had been out of town for a few weeks and had left Staunch with his sister. After initially learning his beloved dog had been surrendered, he tried to contact someone. When that didn’t work, he was able to reach someone through the comment section on the shelter’s Facebook page.

According to the family, the woman could not properly care for Staunch and couldn’t find someone to take over doing so. She felt like she had no choice in the matter, though that still doesn’t explain why she didn’t simply contact her brother about it or why she felt the need to use an obscene gesture with Staunch.

Number of dogs received at shelters in Australia each year

In 2019 and 2020 alone, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Australia received over 112,000 animals, 28,000 of those dogs. Only about 21,000 of the dogs turned into the RSPCA Australia were reclaimed or rehomes.

Every dog deserves a loving home

So, when someone turns in a dog who already has a home, it is really tragic. After all, most dogs just want to be a part of a loving home. Hopefully, she can get the help she so desperately needs and will think twice about doing something like that again. As for Staunch, it seems the story ended well for him.

For more on Staunch’s plight and the action of his owner’s sister, see the video below.

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Sources: YouTube – Life Stories Animal, The Animal Rescue Site