78 puppies and counting: Rescue shelter desperate for people to adopt abandoned dogs

Tuesday, 30 April 2019

Nearly 80 rescued by Saving Hope Foundation need new homes (first published in April 2019).

An animal rescue shelter is desperate to find permanent homes for 78 puppies – most of which were abandoned and riddled with infections when they were found.

Saving Hope Foundation co-founder Janine Hinton said the number of puppies at its shelter in Dairy Flat, Auckland, was expected to grow in the next few weeks, with two more dogs expected to give birth soon.

SPCA said it too had a relatively consistent number of puppy rescues during the summer period, until the end of April.

Saving Hope Foundation co-founder Janine Hinton with some of the puppies at the rescue shelter.

Saving Hope Foundation is trying its best to look after all the puppies the best it could, Hinton said.

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Most of the pups are at foster homes but forever homes are what they need, Hinton said.

'It's just horrendous that people would abandon these little pups, they've done nothing wrong.'

Hinton said it was appalling what most of the puppies had been through.

Since the foundation began in 2017, Hinton said it had rescued thousands of dogs.

The current total was the highest rescued so far at any one time.

Two more litters were expected to join them next week and two pregnant dogs were expected to give birth in May.

'It's just an influx of puppies. We need more fosters, we need people to put their hand up and give these beautiful animals permanent homes.'

The most recent litter of six puppies was brought in on April 26 from north of Auckland, and Hinton said the condition they were in was some of the worst she had seen.

'They had no blood in them, riddled with fleas and very anaemic – these puppies were so weak it was devastating.

'They had big scabs on them and there was blood everywhere when we washed them, I thought I'd hurt them. But we found that they had big clusters of fleas on them … appalling.'

Another dog had also been rescued after being dragged behind a moving car, while a litter of 2-week old puppies had been found abandoned in a box in a wet shed in Rotorua.

They were riddled with worms, Hinton said.

'We cry a lot at this shelter because we can't believe how people can be so cruel to these animals.'

She called for harsher penalties for dog owners who didn't desex their pets or give them the care they deserve.

'New Zealand need to get it together and stop this cruelty. It does my head in that we have so many puppies come in in such poor condition that we can do better by.'

Hinton encouraged people to donate what they could to the foundation to help with the daily running of the rescue.

'We need toys, treats, high-potent puppy food, funds to be able to desex, vaccinate and microchip - we need all the help we can get.'