Two Far North families have avoided a legal battle over a much-loved pet dog after they agreed to visitation rights in an ownership dispute.
Bear, the four-year-old shitzu silky cross, now lives with his family in Russell as he has done for the past 14 months, but his future had been unclear until this week.
Now, his original family in Whangarei will get to see him whenever they're in Russell or the family in Russell go to Whangarei.
The dog was found wandering by Far North District Council animal control and taken to the pound where the dispute began.
Bear had a microchip registered to a Whangarei address where he had lived under another name - Wilson - before getting lost and ending up in the care of the family in Russell.
Cue the custody battle.
"That put the council in a difficult position where we couldn't release the dog until we had proof of ownership," Far North District Council general manager of district services Dean Myburgh says.
The families had two options - take the case to court or negotiate terms of visiting; but the former was relatively unchartered territory.
"There'd been inquiries with the Kaikohe District Court and the Whangarei District Court to see what the logical legal process might be and there'd be some uncertainty about which court would hear a case like that.
"Then of course the courts have a backlog of cases, so this one would be sitting in a queue in a legal system," Mr Myburgh says.
While the owners discussed custody, Bear was waiting at the council's pound in Kaikohe. He was released on Tuesday after the parties signed an agreement which allowed visitation rights for the Whangarei family.
Mr Myburgh says the case wasn't one he'd ever seen before, but was glad the outcome was good.
"There's so many unwanted animals that end up being in dog pounds and the SPCA that end up being put down. In this case, we've got people both wanting to own the dog, disputing over that and coming to an agreement over a much-loved animal."
Bear has now been officially registered to the family in Russell.
Newshub.
