Your animals have been seized, now what?

First let's assume you followed the advice in this post and did not sign the animals over to the authorities: http://protectncrescues.blogspot.com/2014/05/if-you-remember-nothing-else-remember.html

If you don't sign the animals away and they are seized anyway, what next?  You need an attorney, hopefully one with some knowledge of NC animal control laws and regulations.

The first thing your attorney needs to do is contact the animal control supervisor of the city or county that raided you, and the director of the shelter where your animals were taken, and emphasize that you have not consented to the seizure, that you retain all your legal rights to the animals, and that all holding periods and evidence requirements must be observed.

Second, let's assume you did not follow our advice and you did sign the animals over. This could be because you were flustered or tricked, or you didn't have our advice and are finding this after the seizure.  Either way, time is of the essence.  In our experience, when animals are signed over the killing starts as soon as the seized animals arrive at the shelter. It is urgent that you or preferably your attorney contact any authorities you can find and tell them you signed under duress and are revoking the surrender.  They may say it can't be revoked because "it's already been turned in" or some similar excuse, but you must get on the record as soon as possible as attempting to revoke the surrender. People to contact are: the officer who took your surrender document, his or her supervisor, the staff at the animal shelter, the local police chief or sheriff... anyone you can find.  They will probably be hard to get to which is why you need an attorney who knows the authorities in your area.

In either case, get your attorney familiar with  Chapter 19A of the North Carolina General Statutes.  This is the law that governs the disposition of seized animals. Also ask your attorney to contact us for further strategic advice.  We are willing to give this advice free of charge to an attorney defending from an animal seizure, but we do not want to publish it here where animal control authorities might see it and be able to anticipate your next move.

We are at marianna.r.burt@gmail.com