TAMPA, Fla., June 28 (UPI) -- A Louisiana family that lost its home in Hurricane Katrina is trying to get its two dogs back from the people who adopted them.
Master Tank and Nila were rescued by the Pinellas Humane Society from the St. Bernard Parish of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The dogs were adopted by two Tampa Bay area residents who have refused to return them to Steven Couture and his family, the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune reported.
"I don't understand how people could know they're our dogs, and all we've been through, and still turn us down," said Couture, who traveled to Florida with his wife and young grandchildren to try to retrieve the dogs. "I'll pay these people back for all the care they've given Tank and Nila. We just want to take them home."
Hillsborough County prosecutor Pam Bondi adopted Master Tank and renamed him Noah. She said she saved the dog's life and will not give him up.
"I legally fostered and adopted a dying dog who had a serious medical condition that long predated the hurricane," Bondi told the Times.
The Dunedin, Fla., family that adopted Nila declined to comment, the newspaper said.
