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A public institution, ‘Penkta koja’ which has been keeping a dog belonging to a Kaunas district resident against the owner's will for more than a year, must return the pet to its owner. This decision was made by the Panevėžys Regional Court after examining a civil case on appeal.

The pet ended up in the animal shelter, owned by D.L., last October after running away from home in the Kaunas district. The man announced the loss of his dog on the social network Facebook. A woman responded to his post, informing him that she had found the sought-after dog and taken it to the ‘Penkta koja’ shelter. However, when the man went to the shelter, he was told that the dog would not be returned to him because it did not have a ‘chip’, and without it, it was allegedly impossible to determine the dog's owner.

The man turned to the court, and the court of first instance, in June of this year, made a decision ordering the public institution ‘Penkta koja’ to return the pet to its owner. The public institution did not agree with this court decision and appealed it.

The Panevėžys Regional Court, having examined the appeal, noted that there is sufficient evidence in the case to conclude that D.L. is the owner of a black and white dog named Deris. This, as the court pointed out, is confirmed by the testimony of several witnesses, photographs of the animal provided by one witness, video recordings capturing D.L.'s dog, as well as photographs of his pet submitted to the court by D.L. himself.

Moreover, the court noted that the fact that the dog was not marked and registered in the Pet Registry in accordance with the established procedure does not automatically negate D.L.'s ownership rights to the dog.

In its appeal, the public institution ‘Penkta koja’ also claimed that there are almost twenty black and white dogs in their shelter, and that the dog belonging to D.L. is not among them.

However, as the court noted, despite the fact that D.L. did not actually find his dog in the photographs of dogs published on the shelter's website, the evidence in the case confirms that D.L.'s dog was taken to the public institution ‘Penkta koja’. And since the public institution did not provide the court with any documents that D.L.'s dog was transferred to someone for temporary care or donated, it is likely that it is being kept in this shelter, and the shelter must return the dog to its rightful owner, D.L.

The ruling of the Panevėžys Regional Court enters into force immediately, but is subject to appealed to the cassation court within 3 months.

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