LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Crying in her mother’s kitchen, the original owner of a Las Vegas dog recounted the moment she was told Lucy, her 11-year-old Chihuahua, would not be returned. However, a Henderson animal rescue defended their actions amid a social media firestorm.
On Apr. 26, Regina Lukens, a Las Vegas resident, said she was preparing a bowl of food for Lucy, her companion since a puppy, when she realized something felt odd.
“I just looked, and she wasn’t there,” she said. “It was like, seven maybe 10 minutes, and she was gone.”
Lukens couldn’t figure out how Lucy got out of her home and claimed someone must have picked the dog up and drove away.
On Nov. 2, Lucy arrived at The Animal Foundation as a stray, and was immediately checked for a microchip—luckily, she had one.
For the next three days, The Animal Foundation staff attempted to contact Lukens via phone and email, from information listed on the microchip, to let her know Lucy was safe.
“Three phone calls and three emails during the required 72-hour legal hold, plus an additional day,” Kelsey Pizzi, an Animal Foundation spokesperson, told 8 News Now. “We received no response.”
After the legal hold lapsed, Lucy was transferred on Nov. 7 to a Henderson-based animal rescue, and the dog’s information was passed along.
On Nov. 14, Lukens discovered the missed emails and calls from the Animal Foundation and reached out to find out where Lucy went and how to recover her dog—but legally she didn’t own her anymore.
“They couldn’t tell me who, nothing,” Lukens said. “I got on the internet and I searched—my kids helped me do it—we found her at Bobbie’s rescue.”
Bobbie Smith, owner of Animal Angel Rescue Foundation, told 8 News Now in a Thursday phone interview she was contacted by Lukens, but said Lucy was already adopted—a claim Lukens disputes.
“At the appointment she contacted me, and she was very upset,” Smith said.
One call, two perspectives
The details in the initial phone call Lukens placed to Smith is a question of perspective. Smith claimed she explained to Lukens in full the details from the Animal Foundation how Lucy came into her possession and that she was adopted.
“I can’t say anymore,” Smith said. “The way they have treated us. I have cease and desist orders on them. I am happy to go to court.”
Lukens claimed after explaining she had documents, receipts, and photos proving she owned Lucy, Smith said she still had the dog but refused to hand her over out of concern for the dog’s welfare.
“I said, may I adopt her tomorrow,” Lukens said. “She said, ‘I’ll ask the questions.’”
Lucy had suffered from being away for seven months, was a senior dog, had issues with one bad tooth, and was recently involved in an incident with a stray dog in Lukens’s backyard. The concerns allegedly drove Smith to an unconvinced stance of Lucy’s assured welfare with Lukens.
“[Lukens] didn’t keep her safe and she didn’t pay attention to her,” Smith said. “The dogs are the most important.”
Both Smith and Lukens’s statements to 8 News Now were in conflict with whether Lucy was at the Henderson-based rescue during the call or was already adopted.
“[Smith] made it sound like Lucy was in her possession and that she had spent $1,000 on the dog,” Lukens said. “The website pretty well made it clear that she was going to put her up for adoption the next day.”
When the call ended, Lukens decided she would not give up her effort to prove she could take care of Lucy, as she had for 11 years, and took to social media to explain the situation to others.
“It just got ugly”
Lukens said she was unfamiliar with how to use different social media platforms and quickly wrote a Facebook post, asking for help.
“Despite what Bobbie and her organization claim I have receipts proving my ownership and the quality of care she received in my possession,” Lukens wrote.
Within a few days, Lukens’s posts gained traction, garnering the attention of a few online groups that began to allegedly call Smith and ask for more information. Several social media posts indicating posts and comments began to become more aggressive and pointed—some demanding Lucy’s return.
“I have been harassed, and defamed, and slandered,” Smith said. “It has been unreal and it has been ongoing and they don’t understand.”
Smith claimed the growing ferment started to make her feel unsafe and called into question the status of her animal rescue—claiming the police came to her home.
“Unfounded accusations are running rampant,” Smith wrote in a Facebook post. “They are so bad that I’ve had police at my house with the accusation of stealing dogs.”
Multiple individuals reached out to 8 News Now asking for more information about what happened to Lucy and why the rescue would not give her back to an owner who had proof.
“I don’t want to put a bad tarnish on her name,” Lukens said. “I just want my dog.”
