TAMPA, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - The Humane Society of Tampa Bay is suing a pet rescue over media coverage of a dog that made its way through both.
HSTB sued Pawlicious Poochie Pet Rescue on Feb. 25 in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, asserting it has been defamed by Pawlicious founder Jaime McKnight in the Tampa Free Press.
Two articles chronicle a chihuahua originally named Diggity, who made his way to Pawlicious after the death of his owner, a homeless man. Emily Kyle apparently adopted Diggity but turned him in to HSTB on Dec. 18, 2021, despite allegedly being contractually obligated to return him to Pawlicious.
Now named Chulo, the dog was quickly adopted, the complaint says, adding HSTB did not scan Diggity's microchip because he was turned in by his owner.
HSTB updated the microchip information when Diggity was adopted. On Feb. 7, the first Free Press article came out.
McKnight is charged with defamation for claiming HSTB changed Diggity's microchip without her consent and for stating HSTB kills more animals than the public is aware of. The article drew harsh comments about HSTB.
Eleven days later, a second article came out with more defamatory statements, HSTB says, like the organization having a vendetta against McKnight and adopting out a dog it knew to be sick.