Lipski's not going to take it, doggone it!
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The owners of Snow, a shaggy-haired Maltese who escaped from her Jersey City owners in October - and was given by a shelter to a new owner on Long Island - are asking the City Council for help in getting their dog back.
"This dog has been with us for seven years," said Sandra Roca, standing next to her mother, Lucy Roca. "This dog is part of our family."
According to family members and city officials, Snow escaped from the backyard of the Rocas' Journal Square apartment on Oct. 15. Picked up that day by Jersey City's Animal Control officer, Joe Frank, the dog was taken to the Liberty Humane Society.
According to state law, strays must be held for seven days so their owners have a chance to find them. But on the sixth day, Sandra Roca's boyfriend went to the Liberty Humane Society shelter and the dog was already gone, according to the Rocas.
The shelter acknowledges it had been keeping the dog, and says that it gave the dog earlier that day to an official with Bayonne-based Companion Animal Rescue and Education. A representative of that organization then took Snow to the Animal Clinic and Hospital of Jersey City on West Side Avenue to treat a suspected ear infection.
A few days later - apparently unaware that Snow's owner was trying to get her back - CARE found a new home for the dog on Long Island.
Moved by the family's story, and recalling how he felt when his own dog ran away when he was 13, Journal Square Councilman Steve Lipski agreed to intervene.
But he didn't get far yesterday.
"I left CARE three (phone) messages yesterday, and they never called back," Lipski said.
"I called the city's corporation counsel and I think the next thing we're going to do is file a lawsuit," Lipski said.
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