An Ontario woman laying claim to two Pomeranians seized by police in an alleged Burnaby puppy-killing case is heartbroken and wants the dogs back.
Burnaby RCMP said they got a report on May 24 from a person saying they had bought a Pomeranian puppy from a man who was now killing other puppies.
The investigation led to the arrest of a 28-year-old man in the Brentwood area that same night, according to Burnaby RCMP.
Pouya Sadri, of no fixed address, has since been charged with one count of killing an animal.
Two adult dogs and four puppies were seized by police and turned over to the Burnaby SPCA after Sadri’s arrest, according to the RCMP.
After publishing a story about the case on June 16, the NOW got a series of emails from someone identifying herself as Hanieh Kaldi.
A Toronto resident, she said she had been in a six-year common law relationship with Sadri, and the dogs – a male called Bonzai and a female called Luna – were hers.
The relationship ended badly after a “fierce fight,” she said, and a court order barred her from contacting him.
“So I need leave my everything plus my babies (dogs) and leave the house,” she wrote in an email.
After the break-up, Kaldi said she traveled to Turkey to visit family for the first time in six years.
When she got back, she said she looked for an animal-friendly apartment, so she could take her dogs back.
She has since learned about Sadri’s charges and that he took the dogs to the Lower Mainland.
“I don’t care about Pouya and his courts; I just worry about my babies,” Kaldi wrote.
She said she’s not a breeder and wanted to get Luna spayed, but she has been told she won’t be getting the Pomeranians back.
“I don’t have any ideas where are my babies,” she said.
Burnaby SPCA manager Nicole McBain said she has talked to Kaldi, but, by the time Kaldi contacted her, the legal time requirement for holding the dogs had expired.
“She did not come forward during that time,” McBain said. “We’d already placed them into homes.”
While there are cases where the SPCA will reach out to the new owners and see if they are willing to give up the animals, McBain said they didn’t do that for the Pomeranians because of the particular circumstances of the case, including the fact the dogs had been seized by police and that Kaldi lives in Ontario.
McBain added there was no identification proving Kaldi’s ownership. One of the dogs had a microchip, according to McBain, but it did not trace back to Kaldi.
“We were working from a standpoint of protecting the puppies,” McBain said.
Sadri was released on May 25 on several conditions, including an order not to “own, have contact with, have the custody or control of or reside in the same premises of an animal or bird.”
His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22.
The maximum penalty for killing an animal without lawful excuse is a $10,000 fine, two years in jail or both.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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