US President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyer common nominee, Pam Bondi, was as soon as on the centre of a authorized dispute over a canine named Tank, whose story continues to attract consideration. The saga started in 2005 when Tank, a St. Bernard, was separated from his Louisiana house owners, Steve and Dorreen Couture, throughout Hurricane Katrina. Tank was later taken to the Pinellas Humane Society in Florida, the place Ms Bondi, a distinguished animal rights advocate, adopted him and renamed him Noah.
Ms Bondi, who served as Florida’s lawyer common, was identified for her lively assist of animal rights, even selling causes just like the 2018 Florida poll measure to ban canine racing. However her involvement with Tank stirred controversy, particularly when the canine’s authentic house owners tracked him down in 2006.
Ms Bondi argued that Tank had been significantly uncared for by the Coutures, citing medical points like heartworms that had severely affected the canine’s well being. “He was dying from heartworms. They’d crammed his coronary heart,” she instructed The St. Petersburg Occasions. “I took a canine who was a strolling skeleton. That is what was flawed with him earlier than the hurricane.”
The Coutures denied these allegations, claiming that the heartworm situation was long-standing, and sought to reclaim their pet. In response, Ms Bondi insisted that she was offering a greater surroundings for Tank. “If I believed I used to be sending him to a steady surroundings, the place he can be cared for, as laborious as it could be, I might put him in my automotive and drive him again myself,” she mentioned.
The dispute escalated right into a authorized battle, which lasted for 16 months and have become broadly lined by main information shops.
The case finally settled earlier than trial, with the main points of the settlement remaining personal. Ms Bondi ultimately returned Tank to the Coutures, together with provides of meals and medicine, however their relationship shortly soured.
Doreen Couture was annoyed with the scenario, significantly Ms Bondi’s guarantees. “It was a burden, it actually was,” she instructed The St. Petersburg Occasions in 2010. “Financially, emotionally, it was a very tough time.” She additional criticised Ms Bondi, saying, “Why ought to I? She stole my canine… She has no compassion in any respect.”
Regardless of the settlement, Ms Bondi’s fame relating to the incident remained largely unaffected. In her profitable 2010 marketing campaign for Florida lawyer common, she declared that the matter had been resolved and claimed she was broadly supported by animal rights activists.