Mass. couple, Aruba woman fight over dog in court

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A local dog is caught in the middle of an international tug of war! A couple from North Attleboro was on vacation when they found what appeared to be a stray dog who wasn't cared for. So they brought the dog to a vet and legally adopted her and brought her home. Now they're being sued by a woman in Aruba who says she wants her dog back.

Dan O'Connell is fighting to keep the dog and says "ethically and morally, we're not going to send this dog back."

The dog, Coco, has been living in North Attleboro since the fall when this couple says they found her on a beach in Aruba near the resort where they were staying.

Dan's wife Lisa said, "We noticed that she seemed dehydrated, hungry, loaded with ticks, she seemed sad."

So the couple says they brought the dog to a vet in Aruba and from there they ended up on the island's Animal Relief Foundation. They say they thought everything was taken care of, they got a pet passport to fly the dog back to Massachusetts, but then they received an email from the agency indicating that someone was looking for the dog they had just adopted.

"Fast forward then another week and a half and they confirmed the dog in fact this woman is looking for is in fact our Coco," Lisa said.

The agency asked the couple to send the woman an email back to assure her that the dog was okay. They did that and the woman they were e-mailing asked for the dog back. Now they're in court.

"We were floored that someone who would be so careless with the dog in the first place would go through this to try and get it back," Dan said.

We found a Facebook page online which appears to be related to the case. It's listed as Whitey Pinky. The page administrator posts: "My dog that was taken away in Aruba and shipped to the United States within only two days! Other posts of the same sentiment continued.

"Legally we adopted the dog, per every law in Aruba that says we could adopt the dog we went through all the process, we own the dog," Dan said.

The O'Connell's launched their own online campaign to help pay for the legal fight to keep Coco as the bills are already several thousand dollars.

Coco's fate will be decided in court.

Cox Media Group