Quite A Soap Opera - Need Honest Opinions

I have quite a soap opera that I need some moral advice about, I will try to leave out names and very specific details for anonymity.

I am very much an animal lover. It’s difficult for me to see any animal in need of anything and not help out. Even if I can’t personally help out the animal, I will do everything I can to find somebody that CAN help that animal.

A dear friend of mine lost her job and was in the process of losing her house. She had 3 animals that needed re-homing, 2 of which I personally could help and 1 that I could not. I assured her that I would try and find a home for the third animal. I asked 2-3 people if they could take the animal (there was no hurry, she still had about 2 months). I only asked people that I was pretty sure I could trust to take care of the animal.

One of the people I asked was my cousin. I explained the situation on the phone, not online, so I don’t have textual proof of our conversation. I explained to her my friend’s situation, and that the animal needed a new home because of the situation, and she wanted it to go to someone where, if at some point in the future she was able to get the animal back, she’d be able to, of course compensating the person who had been taking care of it for feed/expenses. I explained that this was unlikely, but that is what she wanted to try and do. I explained this animal was very dear to her and it was breaking her heart to have to re-home it, that she even had a tattoo of the animal. My cousin said she understood and would consider taking the animal and wanted to help. A week later, my cousin messaged me and said she wanted to take the animal, and was in fact very excited about it. I told her I would tell my friend and arrange everything. She told me to tell my friend the animal would have a great home and for her not to worry, etc etc. So I went to pick the animal up, about 3.5 hours away from my cousin. It included everything - bowls, cages, all animal accessories, etc- There was no initial cost involved for my cousin at all. I took him the 3.5 hour drive to my cousin’s apartment, helped her set everything up and get settled, and everybody seemed happy. A few weeks went by and she would periodically tell me that the animal was doing okay, how things were going, etc - I was never told there were any incidents or issues.

Meanwhile in the midst of this, my cousin had before hand introduced me to one of her roommates that I had started to date. I would see him every weekend and things were lovely. Also during this time my cousin started dating someone that was very into drugs/hallucinogenics/pot, and my cousin started doing those things, too. My cousin was previously very Christian/straightedge so her sudden change in behavior really worried me. I brought it up to her in a very casual, non offensive way(I have the text message log to prove it) - that I thought maybe her boyfriend was a little of a bad influence on her. She became absolutely furious with me, became extremely defensive and refused to speak to me from then on.

A week or so after this happened, my boyfriend mentioned to me that my cousin had advertised on CraigsList and had sold the animal for upwards of $200+, along with all the accessories/equipment. An animal that she was given, and that she, for all intents and purposes was “fostering”. I was absolutely furious. Boyfriend was shocked at my reaction, because he said Cousin told him that she called me and talked to me and “I told her to sell him”. I was irate. Not only because she had done that, and of course lied, but because she sold the animal on craigslist which does not have the best reputation for animal buyers, and because she did not contact me to re-home the animal, or even let me know there was a problem? not only that, I didn’t even know until a week after it happened. I messaged her and I told her that I was extremely upset with her, though I never called her any derogatory names or any derogatory terms, and I demanded to have the contact information for the person she sold the animal to. She refused to give it to me, and then proceeded to verbally abuse me. At one point she called me and was screaming at me over the phone so loudly that I would honestly be surprised if the cops weren’t called. She was absolutely irate and over absolutely nothing, in my opinion. I was the one that should be irate - my friend whose animal had been sold was the one that should have been irate. I didn’t know what to do, so I called my friend that originally owned the animal. I gave her my cousins number, and while crying told her what my cousin had done and what happened. My friend tried contacting my cousin, who in turn also screamed and berated the friend over the phone. The friend calmly explained all she wanted was the contact information for the person she sold the animal to, she didn’t want the money, just wanted to know where the animal was. My cousin hung up on her, and my friend tried to call her back numerous times and my cousin still refused to give out the contact information.

I personally felt she sold the animal for drug money, and I was incredibly heartbroken. This happened over 5 months ago. To this day, she talks badly about me, she told several people including other family members that she “hopes I die in a house fire”, and swears she “didn’t know” that the animal wasn’t hers to sell, she claims she had no idea that it was someone else’s animal, and she claims my friend never called her. She continues to lie about the situation to everyone, my friend still does not know where her animal is, and I am continually in the middle because my boyfriend still chooses to maintain a friendship with my Cousin. This is, of course, putting a little strain on our relationship.

I personally feel that if she needed me, ever, she is family, and I’d be there for her - but I have no desire what so ever to talk to her or be her friend anymore, until she, at the very least, gives my friend the contact information for the person she sold the animal to. I don’t think that’s too much to ask - yet she still refuses. She still tells people that she did nothing wrong, and it is all my fault, and I never told her any of the information about my friend.

So I guess my question is two fold. How should I deal with my relationship with her, and secondly, what recourse would I or my friend have to try and get back the animal? I think getting the animal back without the information from my cousin is a lost cause. I’ve presented this as accurately, and as unbiased as I can be, and I’m generally looking for some unbiased advice. Thanks in advance.