Pam Bondi’s bizarre court battle over dog she ‘stole’ from Hurricane Katrina survivors

If Donald Trump had hoped that naming Pam Bondi as attorney general would end the controversy over the role, he may have been barking at the wrong address.

The decision has brought to light a bizarre dog custody battle, with the Tampa lawyer accused of “no compassion at all” by Hurricane Katrina survivors, who accused her of stealing their enormous St. Bernard dog.

Bondi, 59, served as attorney general for Florida from 2011 to 2019 and also represented Trump in his first Senate impeachment trial.

She was thrust back into the spotlight after Trump’s first Cabinet pick, Matt Gaetz, became embroiled in scandal amid claims he had sex with a minor. Gaetz denies the allegations.

But Hurricane Katrina survivors Steve and Doreen Couture knew who Bondi was long before her notable political appointments.

During the 2005 hurricane, Steven had decided to ride out the storm with the dogs while his family was evacuated.

He had thought he had made the right decision until the dikes broke and flooded St. Bernard Parish, leaving about two meters of water in his house.

The family decided to leave their Saint Bernard dog Master Tank under their name in a temporary home until the dogs were later turned over to the Pinellas Humane Society.

Bondi served as attorney general for Florida from 2011 to 2019 and also represented Trump in his first Senate impeachment trial

“He died of heartworms. They had filled his heart. That’s what was going on with him before the hurricane. “If I thought I was going to send him to a stable environment where he would be cared for, no matter how difficult that would be, I would put him in my car and drive him back myself,” Bondi said.

But amid the chaos of the storm, Bondi managed to foster the dog and change its name to Noah after losing her own beloved St. Bernard, Donovan, to cancer.

The Couture family tracked the dog down to Bondi’s home in Tampa Bay in January 2006 and requested that it be returned, but she refused and instead accused them of neglecting the dog.

She told the St. Petersburg Times that she “brought the dog who was a walking skeleton,” the newspaper reported Independent.

“He died of heartworms. They had filled his heart. That’s what was going on with him before the hurricane.

“If I thought I was going to send him to a stable environment where he would be cared for, no matter how difficult that would be, I would put him in my car and drive him back myself,” she added.

“I promised him I would protect him.”

De Couture denied the allegations and revealed that the dog had suffered from heartworms since he was 10 months old.

This was when the Coutures sued her in what became the beginning of a sixteen-month legal battle.

The lawyer eventually acquired a new Saint Bernard, Luke, who has often been seen with her, including during her political career

The dog was reunited with his owners in 2007 after Bondi promised to pay medical and food bills, which the family said was not the case.

Within days of the trial date being set, Bondi representatives approached the original owners “and said it might be worth sitting down and having meaningful discussions,” according to Couture’s lawyer Murray Silverstein . Tampa Bay Times.

The dog was reunited with the Couture family in May 2007.

Plans for Bondi to receive photos and updates on the dog’s welfare quickly fell apart after the Couture’s claimed Bondi had failed to keep her promises to pay for his food and medical bills for life.

“It was a burden, really,” Doreen told the St. Petersburg Times in 2010, the Independent reported.

“Financially and emotionally it was a very difficult time.”

When asked if there were plans to keep Bondi informed about St Bernard’s life, Couture replied: ‘Why should I? She stole my dog… She has no compassion at all.’

The lawyer eventually acquired a new Saint Bernard, Luke, who has often been seen with her, including during recent political appearances.

Speaking about the incident in the aftermath, she said: ‘I have received enormous support from human and animal rights activists, and no criticism at all. Actually it hasn’t been a problem.’