Custody fight for 5-leg dog ensues
Lilly, the five-legged puppy, may still end up in a New York freak show if John Strong gets his way.
Strong, who owns a Coney Island exhibit featuring unusual animals, says he'll file a lawsuit today in Charlotte to stake his claim for Lilly. He's retained a local lawyer, he says, but wouldn't name the attorney.
Strong contends he's the rightful owner of Lilly because the pup's original owner, Calvin Owensby of Gastonia, broke an implied contract to sell him the dog.
The two had agreed on a price and Strong paid a $1,000 deposit. But Owensby decided to sell the pup to a Charlotte woman after media reports of the freak-show deal sparked an outcry from animal lovers.
"It's like a guy who sells you a car and then later tells you he's going to sell it to someone else," Strong told the Observer Wednesday. "I was the original owner -- it doesn't matter if it's a five-legged dog, a house or a car."
Strong heard about the puppy a few weeks ago and phoned Owensby to ask his price. He explained that his show contained "amazing animals, oddities and freaks," he said.
Owensby, an out-of-work electrician from Gastonia, said he'd sell for $3,000.
When Charlotte's Allyson Siegel read about the plan to exhibit the puppy, she offered $3,000 -- plus $1,000 to refund Strong's deposit. Owensby agreed.
Lilly's extra leg makes it hard for the seven-week-old puppy to walk, so Siegel plans to have it removed next week. But Strong says he'll seek an injunction to stop any surgery on the Chihuahua-terrier mix.
Siegel vows to fight: "I just want to throw up," she said. "I want to say 'over my dead body.'"
Owensby questions the merit of Strong's threatened lawsuit: "We didn't have no contract. We didn't sign any papers or anything. I don't see why he'd do that; I refunded his money."
Strong acknowledges he got his money back, and last week said he was disappointed but could live with the outcome. He told the Observer: "Sometimes, you just gotta say: 'OK, I still have nine live, two-headed animals,' and move on."
But now, after Lilly's story spread nationally and drew online comments calling him cruel and exploitative, Strong says he's changed his mind.
He wants people to know his animals are treated well and that customers enjoy seeing their unusual traits.
"We're good people," he says, "and we take care of our animals."
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: Lily, a Chihuahua terrier mix that has five legs, licks a bowl.
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