Yeah, I think the reanimated ships re-spawned on you, which seems alright to me, and I wouldn't expect it to have a timer anymore... except the reanimated ships will definitely die at some point due to their timer...
has anyone reanimated an enemy ship, sent it somewhere safe, watched it expire due to timer and then it was return to your homeworld?
If the enemy shoots it down, it should have a chance to be returned regardless... that seems right. But an argument could be made against it being returned just because the built in timer expired. that seems like it's circumventing the rules