This is the text of yesterday's article. There have been a couple more stories over the last month, but they aren't on the paper's website (and I'm a diligent recycler )

Tomkatzid, Buckley didn't have a collar or tag. I think the rationale was that it's a big country town, don't need a collar on OUR dog ...

I still can't believe they didn't call the pound in the week they were looking for the dog and none of their friends/family suggested to do it either???

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Sunday Herald Sun
12 January 2003

Readers demand kelpie's return
Give Bucks back now
By ADRIAN TAME

THE RSPCA has been blasted over its refusal to intervene on behalf of a couple whose much-loved dog they sold to a family of strangers.

The Sunday Herald Sun has received many letters and phone calls from readers protesting at the RSPCA's harsh stance over 18-month-old kelpie cross Buckley.
Readers have offered owners Steve and Donna Richards everything from financial assistance to legal advice, and even suggested dognapping Buckley back.

RSPCA national president Dr Hugh Wirth said Buckley could have bonded with her new owners "within two or three minutes".

He described the Sunday Herald Sun's treatment of the story as "sensationalist".

Buckley has been the devoted pet to the Richards family since a few weeks old.

She lived with them on their 86-hectare property in King Valley, 40km south of Wangaratta, until two weeks before Christmas, when she was seized by a council dog catcher on a nearby dirt road.

Nobody saw Buckley taken, so for a week the Richards scoured the area, fearing she had been bitten by a snake.

A week later the RSPCA advertised Buckley for sale.

Mr Richards, 47, contacted the RSPCA only to be told Buckley had been sold to an elderly man living alone.

Later, RSPCA chief executive Maria Mercurio denied this, saying Buckley was in a loving family home which had been assessed according to RSPCA procedure.

But she admitted the RSPCA had not visited the home.

Confidentiality laws prevent the RSPCA from giving the Richards details of the new owners, but it has passed on their offer of a replacement dog if Buckley is returned.

Many readers suggested a true dog lover would have returned Buckley, particularly as the new owners had her for only three days.

Mrs Richards said: "Steve is completely heartbroken. How could anybody be so cruel?"

Vet Debbie Calnon, of Mount Waverley, said: "I find the suggestion that a dog would bond with new owners in three minutes a bit ridiculous.The RSPCA does a lot of good, but it is such a large organisation that hiccups like this do occur."

A spokesman for the Lost Dogs' Home in North Melbourne said his organisation insisted people buying stray animals sign a document agreeing to hand back the animal to its original owner should they turn up after the sale.

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The article is completely one-sided, quotes a vet who isn't even associated with the case, quotes another humane society with a different procedure to make the RSPCA's process look bad, and tries to make the RSPCA look negligent because the officer didn't look at the new owner's home (even though it's never been their process). Grrrrrrrr