A New York man is suing a local animal shelter for $5 million, claiming the shelter wrongly adopted out his dog, Eto, a Belgian Malinois.

Clifton Benjamin, a TSA canine handler, claims he purchased Eto in the Netherlands and brought him to the United States. The day after one-year old Eto went missing, he turned up at the Town of Islip animal shelter, where Benjamin went to pick him up. According to news reports, Benjamin claimed to have all the pedigree information for the dog, including his pet passport, vaccination records and shipping/tracking information.

Belgian Malinois are often trained for use by U.S. Secret Service members and for tracking and security and have been known to be sold for between $20,000 and $40,000.

"This is the equivalent of finding a Ferrari at a used car dealership," Benjamin's attorney, Vesselin Mitev, of Ray, Mitev & Associates, LLP, said. "The outrageous behavior of those sworn to reunite animals with their owners cannot go unpunished. We must find Eto. We know he is out there and we demand him back."

In a statement, a town spokesperson said that several people came to claim the dog but none could prove ownership.

"The plaintiff had no physical paperwork in his name, and what he did have, included inaccurate information including a chip number that did not match the chip number in the dog," the statement reads. "The plaintiff admitted to giving the dog to a third party. The dog was brought in on September 14th, 2018 and adopted on October 5, 2018. We received several inquiries. We did more than our due diligence in looking for a responsible owner. The dog was ultimately adopted out to a retired NYC police officer with no relationship to the Town of Islip. This is a frivolous lawsuit and will be vigorously defended by the Town of Islip."

—Source: patch.com