Yours, Mine, or Ours?
Here’s a custody case a judge doesn’t hear very often, a battle over the frozen sperm of a dog. That’s right, there’s a divorced couple feuding over who is entitled to the semen of their three Bullmastiffs.
Karen Scully, who lives in Florida, and her ex-husband, Anthony Scully of Oakland County, are feuding in Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac over who legitimately owns semen belonging to Cyrus, Regg and Romeo, all AKC-registered bullmastiffs — lovable, slobbery behemoths. Such dogs can sell for as much as $2,000 each.
The Scullys were hobby breeders in Oakland County until their divorce in 2002. When they split up, they also split up the six bullmastiffs they owned: He kept four of them and she took two with her to Florida. At issue is who gets to claim the frozen sperm, stored at a freezing center in Sterling Heights. Both still raise bullmastiffs.
Anthony Scully, through his attorney, said the semen is his, and that his ex-wife, in moving to Florida, gave up claim. Karen Scully, who appeared in court via teleconference, claimed she has ownership, since the dogs that provided the semen once belonged to her.
