President-elect Trump’s attorney general nominee, Pam Bondi, was once caught up in a legal dogfight with a Louisiana couple over a pooch named Tank fighting to keep the beloved animal she felt had been seriously “neglected.”
The dispute goes back to 2005, when Tank’s owners, Steve and Dorreen Couture, put the St. Bernard in an animal shelter in Louisiana to ride out Hurricane Katrina.
Tank was later turned over to the Pinellas Humane Society in Florida and ultimately adopted by Bondi, 59, who renamed him Noah, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Pam Bondi was accused of stealing a Louisiana couple’s dog, Tank (above). Steve Nesius/AP
Bondi was a prominent animal rights activist during her time as Florida’s attorney general — often bringing bow-tie clad rescue dogs to cabinet meetings — and supported a ballot measure to ban dog racing in the Sunshine State in 2018, the Naples News reported.
Tank was one of thousands of dogs separated from their owners during the catastrophic storm, which destroyed tens of thousands of homes and led to 1,392 deaths.
The Coutures eventually tracked down Tank to the Tampa Bay area and Bondi in 2006, but the Florida prosecutor was determined to keep her furry companion, according to the outlet.
Bondi argued Tank had serious medical problems while in the care of the Coutures and contended she would be the better pup parent.
“He was dying from heartworms. They had filled his heart,” she told the St. Petersburg Times. “I took a dog who was a walking skeleton. That’s what was wrong with him before the hurricane.”
“If I thought I was sending him to a stable environment, where he would be cared for, as hard as it would be, I’d put him in my car and drive him back myself,” Bondi said.
While the terms of the settlement were not disclosed, the Coutures got their dog back from Bondi. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The Coutures denied accusations of neglect, claiming the heart-worm issue had been a long-term medical condition, and eventually sued Bondi demanding the return of Tank.
The legal drama lasted 16 months and played out on CNN, Fox News and the pages of People magazine.
The two sides settled shortly before the case came to trial, and while the terms were not disclosed, Bondi ultimately let Tank go.
And though things officially ended amicably, the couple and Bondi swiftly fell out of touch.
Pam Bondi is President-elect Trump’s choice to be America’s new attorney general. Corbis via Getty Images
In Bondi’s successful campaign for Florida attorney general in 2010, she insisted the matter was settled and that she had received a “tremendous amount of support from people and animal rights activists” over the issue.
The post Trump AG nominee Pam Bondi’s long legal battle over beloved St. Bernard appeared first on World Online.