On one of our regular Monday evening outings
to Café Verdi with our dogs, we spotted a little puppy with a hind leg heavily
strapped. Of course, Gerda had to
investigate…
Turns out it is a sad story with a happy
ending, but it goes beyond just this puppy’s story, it is also an attack on
back street breeding, or puppy mills.
The puppy was introduced to us as Mia by her
foster mother, Daina. This is Daina’s story.
“We
heard about the puppy (her new family has named her Pippa) from my boyfriend’s
mom. A colleague of hers knew of a couple in Mitchells Plain that had a few
puppies to sell.
Little
Pippa was hit by a car and her back leg had been broken in two places. Because
of this, she was unable to get to her mom for milk and as soon as we heard about
her we went to go pick her up.
We
took her to the vet immediately and were told that she was in a very bad
condition, not only due to the broken leg and lack of nutrition, but she had
also lost a lot of blood from ticks and fleas that she was covered in. The vet
dewormed her and gave her a blood transfusion to increase her blood count and
two days later she was ready to come home with us for rehabilitation at just 8
weeks old.
We
immediately fell in love with her as she had the sweetest little personality
and didn't let her bandaged leg stop her. Each day she got stronger and
stronger. She really is a little fighter and once she seemed healthy again we
started looking for a home. A month went by with little interest.
One
day I went to Forrester’s Arms in Newlands and Pippa would not leave one group
of people alone. She was obsessed with the table. There was some interest so I
gave them my number and the next day I received a phone call that Pippa would
finally have a forever home.
I
took her to the vet again and her bandage was removed. Due to the fact that the
new parents had two other dogs, I was asked to keep her for another week (I
didn't mind at all - she was my baby!) for some more rehabilitation to increase
her mobility.
By
the time I dropped her off at her new home, she was able to walk on her sore
leg even though it isn't very strong yet and she was so excited to meet her new
brother and sister.
Her
new family loves her so much and the second I handed her over I could see the
adoration in her new mom's eyes.
Her
new mom and I are still in contact and Pippa is doing extremely well and is
having a ball with her new family.
I
am so glad that I was able to have helped this little girl and gotten to know
her gorgeous personality.
I
will miss her dearly but I know she is now well looked after and is so happy at
her new home!”
Young Mia, rather, young Pippa, is one of the
few happy stories when it involves puppy mils. These are unscrupulous
sub-humans that breed dogs purely for cash with absolutely no care for the
mother or the puppies’ health. Far too often the mothers are literally dumped
when they can no longer breed or becomes ill – mastitis is a common ailment
that goes untreated and will result in death. Less than perfect puppies or ones
that do not find buyers quickly suffer the same fate – abandonment or death,
often by drowning.
What Daina did for Pippa is unquestionably
wonderful and was certainly done with the interests of the puppy in mind. The
problem is that she, unwittingly, supported the back street breeder.
Daina should be rewarded for her compassion
and the breeder must suffer for his/her heartless and cruel actions.
Unfortunately the is little that can be done under the law to prevent this
behavior. The breeder can be reported for cruelty against animals, but if his
kennels are clean and the animals healthy, the SPCA cannot act.
This has to be changed and the only way is to
not support these so called breeders, who are in fact animal farmers with no
hint of conscience.
No comments:
Post a Comment