Examiner: Confiscated dogs returned to veteran after 8 months

Authorities with the town of Yucca Valley, located in Southern California’s eastern Mojave Desert, returned Dakota, Blaze and their puppies to owner James “J. R. “ Lovell and his family.  The adult dogs were confiscated after one was accused of biting.

The ordeal started in February of this year when an elderly lady was walking near the Lovell property.  She became frightened by Blaze.  The stories differ from this point on but both Blaze and his sister, Dakota, were taken into custody by animal control despite no evidence that Dakota was involved.

After the 10-day quarantine period, Lovell was notified his dogs would not be returned and that the town would be seeking a “potentially dangerous” designation.  After a series of hearings and court actions, which cost taxpayers more than $51,000, Lovell was notified in September that the town considered the dogs to be surrendered because Lovell had not met the town’s demands, including his failure to pay almost $6000 in fines.

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