Found abandoned dog by railroad tracks and was starving and could barely walk.

Question

Nursed the dog back to health, but can the owner claim the dog back if they search for it?

Answer

Rights to a lost and found animal will depend on the facts and circumstances. For example, while people who do not reclaim their animals from a shelter within the legal hold time in their state or municipality (usually a few days) often lose rights to those animals, rights to animals who are lost and found but not at a shelter are not as clear. People who believe that their animal is being wrongfully withheld can sue to try to get the animal returned and can contact the police, although the police do not usually intervene in animal custody disputes. The court and/or police may consider what efforts the person who found the animal made to locate the animal’s “parent,” and what efforts the animal’s “parent” made to locate his/her missing animal. People who find an animal should have the animal scanned for a microchip and should look for other ID, such as a license or tattoo. Shelters and other local entities that maintain lost and found animal records should be contacted to report a found animal, fliers should be hung near where the animal was found, online animal lost and found sites should be reviewed and a found report posted, etc. Of course, a person who lost an animal should take many of the same steps and more to locate their missing animal. Failure to do so may result in the animal being deemed abandoned.

Sometimes animals found in poor condition have been neglected and abandoned but sometimes their condition is the result of being lost. If there is evidence of neglect, it may be helpful to have veterinary records on hand. I hope the dog is doing well.