Dogs headed home after 850-day quarantine

NAPLES, Fla., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A pair of dogs that have been in quarantine for more than 850 days, after one of them bit a woman, will return to their Florida family, a lawyer said.

Colleen MacAlister, the attorney who represents dog owners John and Cheryl Duren, said the canines' long stay at Collier County Domestic Animal Services is nearly at an end after an anonymous donor agreed to pay their $991.74 bill, the Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported Thursday.

Abigail, a German Shepherd/Siberian husky mix, and Lola, a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, were placed into quarantine after one of them bit a woman on the leg in June 2009 while trying to reach the woman's dog.

The family appealed the dangerous declaration and the dogs were held in quarantine at a cost of $10 per day during the lengthy process. MacAlister said the Durens, who have since moved out of the county to northern Florida, filed a lawsuit to get the dogs back and agreed to drop the litigation when animal services dropped the $16,400 cost down to $991.74 for food and medicine during the animals' stay.

The Durens were still unable to afford the bill, but six anonymous donors came forward, MacAlister said.

"It's an impressive statement about the people of this county," MacAlister said. "They are going home."