2020 was a rough year, but the Marino family had other worries piled on top of the pandemic. At the beginning of the year, their beloved Poodle mix, Byron, went missing. They spent over a year looking for him with no success. Then, after rechecking his microchip information, they received some horrible news.
Somehow, Byron had been adopted by a new family, and his microchip information was no longer linked to the Marinos. It was a heartbreaking realization, but the family refuses to give up. Byron is a part of their family, so they want him back more than anything.
Microchip Gone Wrong
Byron has been a part of the Marino family since 2017. So, everyone, especially the daughters, grew very close to him. In order to keep him safe, they got him microchipped.
When Byron went missing at the start of 2020, the family made sure the microchip information was up to date. They also marked him as lost in every place they could think of, but no one returned him. About 14 months went by before Savannah Marino suspected that something was wrong. She checked the microchip information and saw that it was suddenly registered under someone else’s name.
“Somebody else’s name came up, and it said this microchip is already registered to this new owner,” Savannah said. “We’re like: ‘Whoa, wait. What’s going on here?’”
At first, Savannah assumed that it must be a mistake. When she contacted the microchip company, they told her they couldn’t get involved in an ownership situation. They eventually told her that the Poodle Rescue of Houston was the one who made the change.
Fighting for Byron
According to the Poodle Rescue of Houston, Byron had been adopted by a new family in February 2020. The rescue claimed that they tried to contact the Marino family, but the number on the microchip was unreachable. The new family is also not willing to give up Byron.
“There is no way we would have been unreachable. We even had a false positive that Byron was found,” Savannah said. “We know our information was up to date. If they had tried to reach out at all, we would have been there.”
There seems to be a lot of uncertainty and miscommunication in this situation. Of course, the only thing the Marino family really cares about is getting Byron back. They said the rescue even offered them a new puppy, but no dog could replace Byron. It seems that Byron’s new family feels the same way.
Savannah made it clear that they aren’t angry at the new family. That family has had Byron for over a year, so he’s definitely a part of the family now. Even so, Savannah hopes they do the right thing and return the dog.
Amid all the chaos, the Marino family filed a lawsuit against the Poodle Rescue of Houston, the microchip company, and Byron’s new family. They didn’t want it to come down to this, but they will do anything they can to bring their furry friend home.
H/T: click2houston.com
Featured Image: Screenshot, click2houston.com
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via Whisker Therapy