Katrina victim wins case, gets dog back

It's now a year and a half after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US.

On the pet rescue front, we've heard happy reunion stories as well as sad stories of pets who still remain missing.

Many pets have found a happy home with a foster family. Some of these families still have hope of reuniting their foster pet with its owner.

Situations like Pablo's, described below, have now been sparks of heated debate - the foster family's protection over a pet's identity and the length of time a pet has now been away from its owner.

Pablo, a dog rescued during Hurricane Katrina, had his custody dispute come to an end this month, with a Superior Court Judge ruling that the dog should be returned to its owner, who now lives in Lafayette, La.

Paula Duming's dog, Pablo, had been adopted by a family who claimed that Duming was trying to claim a dog who was not hers. Duming found the dog she believed to be hers with the aid of a volunteer, who was helping hurricane victims find their pets.

The dog, which Duming photographed on the roof of her mobile home when she was being evacuated, was picked up after the storm and eventually transferred to a shelter in Phoenix.

That shelter, Animals Benefit Club, placed the dog with Wendy Shieh and Dustin Jones, and paid for the couple's legal counsel. Duming said Dee Kotinas of the Animals Benefit Club told her during a phone call that she had the wrong dog. But Duming persisted. Best Friends filed suit six months ago.