Bitter Custody Feud Breaks Out Over 'Ghost' Dog Who Lived With A Pack Of Coyotes In Las Vegas Valley

In what shouldn't come as a surprise, multiple people are now claiming they're the owners of Ghost, the Las Vegas bull terrier mix who has turned into a media sensation for living with a pack of coyotes. Not only was Ghost living on the run with the coyotes, Ghost was actually surviving the coyote lifestyle that clearly wasn't easy for a domesticated pup.

Locals recently noticed that Ghost wasn't doing great during his life on the mean streets and that's when animal rights groups stepped in and captured the dog to get him off the streets and help for his frame that was dwindling.

"He was in rough shape. He was very thin, very weak, and he was just scared," Susan McMullen from the Southern Nevada Trapping Team told KTNV. Vets discovered Ghost had rocks in his stomach, a limp that needed to be addressed and dislocated toes and scratches from a rough life on the mean streets.

Now there's a fight over who is the rightful owner.

Things have gotten so crazy with the Ghost story that the dog now has his own lawyer.

The lawyer will have his/her work cut out with this case.

"We are 100% sure that is our dog," Christy Cabada claimed during an interview with Inside Edition. "He ran out, his fence is so little. He just jumped over that fence and he took off running," Cabada added.

What will happen to Ghost?

The folks at The Animal Foundation will have the unenviable task of deciding where the dog will go once he's ready to go live a quiet life away from the coyotes. Ghost is currently on a 10-day hold. The group will ultimately determine if anyone has a legitimate claim for the dog or if he should go up for adoption.

The Cabada family and Sandy McMullen of the Southern Nevada Trapping Team are expected to put in claims for the dog and then it sounds like we'll have a legitimate dog fight for custody that just might end up as a court case.

The dog survived coyotes and now he'll have to survive court rulings.

Good luck, pup.

Ghost isn't the first documented dog to survive life on the run with a pack of coyotes

While it's impressive for Ghost to spend six months living with coyotes, a quick search reveals there are cases like Ohio dog Maggie spending 17 days in freezing conditions where she ate corn thrown out for deer and drank creek water. Then there's the story of Wiley, the dog who spent 18 months living with coyotes.

And if you need a hero dog story, Casper the Great Pyrenees rose to national fame in 2022 when he killed eight of 11 coyotes who were staging an attack on the sheep he was guarding. The five sheep were left unharmed, but it was a battle for survival for Casper, who suffered serious injuries.

“It was chaos,” Casper's owner, told The Washington Post. “It was not how we wished things had gone, but we’re glad he made it. He was doing his job, and that’s what I think everybody appreciates about him.”