MIAMI – A South Florida woman is distraught, claiming that a veterinarian failed to contact her after a good Samaritan brought in her missing dog to get her microchip scanned.
Ellie is a 4-pound Chihuahua mix that has been missing for more than three weeks.
Genevieve Pardo said there were no leads until last Thursday, when she got an email from the Home Again microchip company that said: "We have great news! We have just received a call from Dream Lake Animal Hospital letting us know they took in a pet with Ellie's microchip number."
"I became overwhelmed with joy and then started crying tears of joy," Pardo said.
But what should have resulted in a joyous reunion was anything but for Pardo after she contacted the animal hospital.
"They say, 'No, we don't have your pet. We were never in possession of your pet. Someone walked her in that found her, we scanned her, we found your information, we called the number (and) it was incorrect,'" Pardo said. "I found that very odd."
Pardo said she can’t see how the number was incorrect, because while her address has changed, her phone number has never changed.
Records show that Pardo’s phone number is the same number on Ellie's adoption contract from animal control a year ago.
Local 10 News reporter Erica Rakow also contacted Home Again and verified the number that it has on file.
Dr. Sergio Vega of Dream Lake Animal Hospital said hospital employees tried to reach the owner without any luck, so he gave Ellie back to the woman who walked her in.
"So you didn't take down this woman's name or number that came in with the dog?" Rakow asked.
"No, we don't have to do that," Vega said.
"Should you have?" Rakow asked.
"No, we don't have any obligation. The only thing we did, which we didn't have to, is scan the dog and found out it had a microchip and try to find the owner, which we did, and end of story," Vega said.
Vega said he is not required to keep the dog and he's not obligated to scan for a chip. He said that next time, he won't even go that far.
"So you wouldn't do anything different? You think you did everything as you should have?" Rakow asked.
"Yeah, I would probably do something different, in that we will not get involved," Vega said.
"They had my little dog in possession," Pardo said. "(They had) my fur baby in possession, and they gave her away again, and once again she is lost."
Although not obligated, Pardo believes that there is more that Dream Lake Animal Hospital could have done.
She said Vega called police after she began arguing with him, so she has since filed a police report.