The New York City shelter Lily Allen returned her recently adopted puppy to has revealed what has happened to the dog since.
Allen revealed last week during an episode of her BBC podcast Miss Me?, that she adopted a puppy called Mary but “took her back to the home” after she “ruined” her life.
The 39-year-old singer, who is married to Stranger Things actor David Harbour said: “She ate all three of our passports, and they had our visas in, and I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced because it was in COVID, and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare.”
Allen said the incident made her resentful of the puppy. “I just couldn’t look at her. I was like, ‘You’ve ruined my life.'”
Allen and Harbour live in New York with her two children from her previous marriage to Sam Cooper, who lives in England. “I couldn’t get them [the kids] back to see their dad for like four months, five months, because this f****** dog had eaten the passports,” Allen explained on the show.
Allen said the passport incident was one of several factors behind the decision though. “Passports weren’t the only thing she ate. She was a very badly behaved dog, and I really tried very hard with her. But it just didn’t work out, and the passports were the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak,” Allen said.
Allen’s claims drew criticism online, with dog lovers taking to social media to scold the singer over her alleged actions. Now Animal Haven, the New York City shelter Mary was adopted from and returned to, has issued a statement revealing what happened to the young puppy and, thankfully, it’s good news.
Tiffany A. Lacey, executive director at Animal Haven, told Newsweek: “Lily Allen and her husband David Harbour adopted Mary from Animal Haven in 2021. The family decided to return Mary to us a few months later.”
Lacey continued: “Animal Haven’s policy is to always take back our animals if an adoption does not work out. We’re happy to report that Mary found a loving home shortly after she was returned, and last we heard, she is doing well.”
Sean Zanni/WireImage/Getty
The statement comes after Allen took to X, formerly Twitter, to issue her own response, criticizing some media outlets for omitting the fact that the passports incident was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” in their reporting.
“People have been furiously reacting to a deliberately distorted cobbling together of quotes designed to make people angry and as a result I’ve received some really abhorrent messages, including death threats,” she wrote. “I’m OK but, it has been a really tough few days that has impacted me and my family.”
Allen went on to provide further background on the circumstances that led to them returning Mary and what happened to her next. “We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in NY and we loved her very much, BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of ways,” she said.
“She couldn’t be left alone for more than 10 mins, she had three long walks a day, two by us and one with a local dog walker and several other dogs, we worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioral specialist and a professional trainer, it was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her when we were away, and after many months and much deliberation everyone was in agreement that our home wasn’t the best fit for Mary.”
Allen added that Mary was rehomed with someone “known to us” and that the rehoming took place within 24 hours of her return. Allen said: “I’ve had rescue dogs pretty consistently throughout my life since I was 4 years old, I’m pretty good at ascertaining a dog’s needs, I have never been accused of mistreating an animal, and I’ve found this whole week very distressing.”
