Family pine for tug-of-love puppy

Masterton's Kylie Murray and her young family are devestated their puppy Storm, who was about 3 months when he went missing last month, has been adopted out to another family. Photo / Supplied

A family are hoping they will get their beloved puppy back after it went missing and was then adopted by a new family.

Kylie Murray of Masterton reported her puppy missing to the council and SPCA but no one contacted her when the puppy was found.

The purebred rottweiler has now been adopted by another family, who are reluctant to give him up.

Miss Murray and her partner Simon Richardson bought Storm earlier this year.

On July 17, she went for a walk with her two daughters and when they returned, Storm - who was about 4 months old at the time - had either escaped or been let out of his kennel.

Miss Murray contacted Masterton District Council to check if it had picked up the puppy, and asked to be contacted if it turned up. She had also contacted Wairarapa SPCA.

A friend later told her they had seen a photo of Storm on the SPCA website and when Miss Murray called the organisation she was told her puppy had already been adopted out to another family.

"She pretty much said there was nothing we could do about it unless the people who adopted Storm surrender him over, which they actually don't have to, if they decide to," she said.

The SPCA held a meeting with Storm's new family to explain the situation but Miss Murray was told they were reluctant to give him up.

"It's like losing a part of your family - it's devastating, especially knowing you can't do anything about it," she said.

"I sort of feel like they've let two families down in a way because now the people that have got him are attached to him."

Storm was not microchipped, although Miss Murray said they had intended to have it done two days after he went missing.

SPCA manager Val Ball said the pound held the puppy for the required amount of days before it was microchipped, vaccinated and put up for rehoming.

She said there was no record of Miss Murray's call to the organisation, although there was a slim chance it had not been written down.

She said if the puppy had been microchipped and registered there would have been no issue.

"I feel for her but at the end of the day that puppy's in a very secure and happy home."

Council environment and planning manager Sue Southey said a call was received but the file was closed after seven days when no dog matching the description was found.

She said a puppy matching the description was found eight days later at Queen Elizabeth Park.

"After a further period of two weeks, as no one had claimed the dog, we signed it over to the SPCA," she said.

She said if the puppy had been microchipped and registered - which is a legal requirement when they are aged over three months - "there would have been no problem in reuniting it with its owner".