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DNA
test to settle ownership battle
A
HAIRLESS dog named Baldrick is set to make legal history after
being ordered by a court to undergo a DNA test as part of a custody
row.
The Chinese Crested, worth £450, was found freezing on a
doorstep in Telford, Shropshire, a fortnight ago and taken to
the Hillbrae Dogs’ Home.
The centre's owner, Marty Burrell, put an advertisement in a local
newspaper and was contacted by Jessie Delaney, who claimed she
bred the dog and gave him to a friend to look after last summer
because she was due to go into hospital for a heart operation.
Since then it appears that Baldrick was passed to at least two
or three owners before being dumped, underweight and with skin
problems.
But the centre is disputing Mrs Delaney's claim, and her ability
to care for him. A county court judge has ordered a DNA test on
the pedigree dog to show whether her claim is genuine.
While DNA testing on dogs is not uncommon in questions of pedigree,
it is thought to be the first time a judge has ordered a test
to prove ownership.
Mrs Burrell said: "When the police brought him in they thought
he was a Yorkshire terrier that had been badly mistreated. We
put out an appeal and a friend of Mrs Delaney's rang up.
We were told Mrs Delaney fostered the dog out while she went into
hospital, but if that's the case it wasn't a very good home."
She said she was concerned that if the dog was given to Mrs Delaney
she might let him go to a bad home again, adding: "I do not
feel that Mrs Delaney is the best person to look after Baldrick."
Mrs Delaney, 46, from Arleston, Telford, said she gave the dog,
who she calls Dewie, to a friend before undergoing a heart operation,
but was "distraught" when told he had died when she
came out of hospital just after Christmas.
She then saw his picture in the paper during the centre's appeal
for his owner to come forward.
She applied to Telford county court to stop the centre giving
the dog away or destroying it. Judge Lawrence Schroeder adjourned
the case to allow for Baldrick's DNA test.
His sample will be matched to other dogs from the same litter
that Mrs Delaney says she still looks after, including his parents.
Mrs Delaney said: "I just want him back." |
