Hanieh Kaldi says Bonzai and Luna are her “babies,” but the SPCA says the dogs have already been adopted and will not be returned.
An Ontario woman laying claim to two Pomeranian dogs confiscated by police in an alleged case of killing Burnaby puppies is heartbroken and wants the dogs back.
Burnaby RCMP said they received a report on May 24 from an individual who said they 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, who has no fixed address, has since been charged with 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 Jan NOW received a series of emails from someone posing as Hanieh Kaldi.
A Toronto native, she said she had a six-year common law relationship with Sadri and owned the dogs – a male named Bonzai and a female named Luna.
The relationship ended after a “bitter struggle,” she said, and a court order barred her from contacting him.
“So I have to leave everything and my babies (dogs) and get out of the house,” she wrote in an email.
Following the split, Kaldi said she traveled to Turkey to visit her family for the first time in six years.
When she returned, she said she was looking for a pet-friendly apartment so she could bring her dogs back.
She has since learned about Sadri’s allegations and that he brought the dogs to the Lower Mainland.
“I don’t care about Pouya and his dishes; I’m just worried about my babies,” Kaldi wrote.
She said she was not a breeder and wanted to have Luna spayed, but was told she would not be getting the Pomeranian back.
“I have no idea where my babies are,” she said.
Burnaby SPCA manager Nicole McBain said she had spoken to Kaldi but by the time Kaldi contacted her the legal time limit for keeping the dogs had expired.
“She hasn’t come forward during that time,” McBain said. “We had already housed them in houses.”
While there are cases where the SPCA will reach out to the new owners and see if they’re willing to give up the animals, McBain said they didn’t do so for the Pomeranians due to the special circumstances of the case, including the fact that they did so dogs have been confiscated by police and that Kaldi lives in Ontario.
McBain added there was no identification proving Kaldi’s ownership. One of the dogs was microchipped, according to McBain, but it couldn’t be traced back to Kaldi.
“We worked from a pup protection standpoint,” McBain said.
Sadri was released on May 25 with a number of conditions, including orders not to own, have contact with, have custody of, control over, or stay on the same premises as an animal or bird.
His next court date is scheduled for July 22.
The maximum penalty for killing an animal without a valid excuse is a $10,000 fine, two years in prison, or both.
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