Dale Malkinson’s dog Zeva is seen in a 2015 photograph on her farm west of Dawson Creek, B.C. After the Yorkshire terrier went missing in 2022, the B.C. SPCA put her up for adoption. (Submitted by Dale Malkinson)
‘They could be twins’
According to the tribunal decision, Malkinson found an adoption listing for a dog that looked like Zeva. She contacted the B.C. SPCA to try and adopt the dog listed as “Delilah.”
The B.C. SPCA responded that it was only considering local adoptions because the dog had ongoing appointments for dental work in Abbotsford, located around 800 kilometres southwest of Dawson Creek.
Malkinson said she told the B.C. SPCA that Zeva and the dog in the listing “could be twins.”
“Nobody mentioned the dog came from Dawson Creek,” she said.
“I had no reason to think my dog would end up in Abbotsford. Why would I?”
The dog was adopted on May 27, 2022. That same day Malkinson told the B.C. SPCA’s South Peace branch that the dog named “Delilah” on the BCSPCA website was in fact Zeva, according to the tribunal decision.
Malkinson said she had her veterinarian send them checkup documents, rabies vaccination tag numbers, and the identification number tattooed in Zeva’s ear.
But it was too late.
“The SPCA sends me an email to say sorry, but she’s already been adopted,” Malkinson said.
Dog’s ID was ‘illegible,’ ‘out of date’
In a statement, a B.C. SPCA spokesperson said they tried to find the dog’s owner by posting on social media, and calling the phone numbers listed on the dog’s rabies vaccination tag.
The dog’s identification tattoo was faded and “the B.C. SPCA misread one letter of the tattoo and was not able to find Malkinson,” according to the tribunal decision.
The organization sent the dog to Abbotsford for veterinary care, and it was put up for adoption.
“Unfortunately, Zeva’s various forms of identification were either illegible or were out of date,” an agency spokesperson told CBC News in an email. “So, despite significant efforts to trace both IDs, we were not able to make contact with her owners.”
“Zeva entered into a foster-to-adopt program with a third party at this time and was successfully adopted by the same individual.”
‘I’ll fight to my last breath’
For Malkinson, that doesn’t make sense because B.C. SPCA documents list Zeva’s tattoo ID number correctly, except for the first letter which was wrong.
“She has a tattoo and a rabies tag, and I figured if she ever showed up any place like the vet or the SPCA, I would have automatically gotten a call,” she said, “and she would have been home — even if they only had a partial tattoo.”
She said she was shocked by the tribunal’s decision, and is considering whether she can appeal it to a higher court.
But with few financial means, she’s not sure she can afford it. At the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal, she represented herself.
“The truth is that I own that dog,” she told CBC News. “I’ll fight to my last breath for my dog — do everything I can — because she means everything to me.”
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