Twists, turns and drama surround German shepherd named Rex

Honolulu, Hawaii - Bear with me on this story - it is long and complicated...

Much has been happening behind the scenes in the case of the German shepherd named Rex and his long-time guardian, Elzbieta Trzeciak - the woman who is desperate to be reunited with him.

Back in December, I wrote a story about Trzeciak's efforts to regain custody of Rex.

If you will recall, Rex was adopted out to another family by the Hawaiian Humane Society (HHS) while Trzeciak was in Kenya on a charity mission.

Almost immediately after writing this story, I was contacted by the Director of Community Relations, Jacque LeBlanc.

Though I had reached out to the HHS for an official statement on this situation prior to writing my story, I was, for all intents and purposes, attacked by LeBlanc as soon as my story was published. 

I was accused of writing a biased, irresponsible article with a "snooty" tone and of painting the Hawaiian Humane Society in a bad light.

LeBlanc also demanded that the article be retracted and pulled completely from Examiner.com.

The article was not pulled from Examiner.com. 

After my story was published, LeBlanc and the HHS set up another meeting with Elzbieta. LeBlanc demanded that I not be a part of this meeting (though Elzbieta requested that I participate in the conference call). 

LeBlanc had worked with another Examiner.com journalist, Liz Rizzo, in the past. LeBlanc asked that Rizzo cover the meeting instead.

Rizzo published a rebuttal story following the meeting between Trzeciak and the officials at HHS. 

Initially, this story was proudly displayed on the HHS Facebook page as the "real" story. 

But Rizzo pulled her own story not long after it was published. She admits that she was basically "hand fed" information by the HHS and that after she did some digging on her own, she was not comfortable leaving the story up.

A new petition has been created with the hopes that Rex will be returned to Elzbieta Trzeciak. Please click here to read and sign this form.

Since that time, Rizzo has published a new story about this situation - please click here to read Liz Rizzo's revised story about the Rex/HHS situation.

One issue which LeBlanc brought up in her emails to me following the publication of the initial story was that I had not reviewed the AVID records.

This is a key portion of this confusing story. Rex had a microchip from AVID. The person listed as an emergency contact on the AVID records while Elzbieta was in Kenya was her ex-boyfriend,  Elsayed Magdy Matar.

Matar's name is consistently on the AVID records since 2008.

HHS claims that Matar was never on the records, which is why HHS would not release Rex to his custody when Rex wound up in their care.

Yet somehow, HHS contacted Matar to let him know that Rex was at the facility. How did that happen if Matar's information was not on the AVID records?

Interestingly enough, the Director of Operations, Keoni Vaughn, told Elzbieta "I can't figure it out and I apologize".

Matar showed up several times at the facility to get Rex, but he was denied the opportunity to take Rex home.

Instead, according to Elzbieta, HHS repeatedly tried to give Rex to Robert Porec - a friend of Elzbieta Trzeciak's - however, not a person who was ever listed on the AVID records for Rex.

It was after Porec advised the HHS that he could not take Rex home that they apparently adopted Rex out elsewhere.

A few points of interest here: Porec was a former employee of HHS. Porec was not listed as an emergency contact for Rex, but Matar was. It is alleged that Porec is the individual who told HHS not to give Rex back to Matar.

There are excellent recounts of this twisted and highly complicated situation at this story in the Animal Advocate and in this Carroll Cox podcast (note, the link to the audio is in the upper left hand corner - there is a delay of intro music of about 4-5 minutes, please be patient).

Elzbieta Trzeciak continues to move forward in her quest to be reunited with her dog.

Rex is much more than a piece of property to her - he was not a coat which was lost - he was her companion for eight long years.

There are few loving dog owners who would act any differently. On a personal note - if my dog was adopted out to another family, I would fight tooth and nail until she was back by my side. 

The hows and whys of the Hawaiian Humane Society's actions with regard to Rex are murky at best.

When I asked for an official statement from the agency, I received "what an unfortunate situation". Nothing more.

When the Carroll Cox shows asked LeBlanc to join in on the discussion, she opted out.

Follow along on Elzbieta's journey to regain custody of Rex at her Facebook page - please click here.

A new petition has been created to help reunite Rex with Elzbieta Trzeciak. Please click here to read and sign this form.

Personally, I hope that Rex is back by his guardian's side sooner than later. Best of luck as you continue to fight for your companion Elzbieta!

If you would like to continue receiving dog-related articles, including the latest news, tips and advice, please click the Subscribe Icon. It's free and anonymous. Thank you for reading and thank you for sharing this story with others.