Perth animal shelter gives family their forever dog … then takes it back

A Perth animal refuge has been labelled “heartless” by a family who say their adopted rescue dog Oakley was forcibly removed from their care because he was sleeping outside.

Tania Wilson adopted the boxer-mix from Swan Animal Haven in Wattle Grove last month after losing her elderly dog, her daughter Katelyn Wilson told Radio 6PR’s Mornings program.

“We immediately fell in love with him,” she said.

“There was just something about his nature that we just fell in love with.

“He’s very playful, very bubbly. Just loves being around people, loves to snuggle up to you.

“He’s quite a water baby. And my mom has a large pool with life jackets for teaching him how to swim in the big pool.”

Wilson said it was when her mother went back to the shelter with Oakley to donate toys and say “thank you” to the volunteers that Oakley was removed from their care.

“The lady kept talking to us; just, you know, normal conversation; asked us to wait outside because there was another volunteer that wanted to say hello. We waited outside for quite some time and I started to feel a little bit uneasy,” she said.

Wilson said they were taken inside the office where another volunteer told them they had breached the signed contract by allowing the dog to sleep outside.