Puppies saved from certain death

SIX puppies, who were covered in fleas and ticks were recently rescued from a Phoenix home by Durban North resident and Phoenix Animal Care Treatment (PACT) volunteer, David Hanson. They were found all huddled together, shivering, in a drain in the back yard. He was contacted by the owner who said she could not take care of the pups.

“This was possibly the worst call-out I’ve ever been on. The house was in a shocking condition, it was extremely cluttered and filthy. When I asked the owner where the puppies where, she pointed to a tiny courtyard at the back of her house.

“The seven of them were underweight, malnourished, shivering and just covered in fleas and ticks. They had hundreds of huge ticks in each of their ears. The owner said she’d been feeding them porridge which they weren’t getting any nutrition out of. The owner also just bathed the puppies in water saying she thought it would kill the ticks. I knew I’d be signing their death warrant if I left them there,” he said.

Hanson took the puppies home with him and asked the owner to sterilise the mother dog. Sadly one of the puppies had to be euthanised because it had contracted coccidia (intestinal tract infection).  Hanson who has already adopted two rescued dogs, Mika and Leah, said he was hoping to find loving homes for the remaining sextet.

“There’s two girls and three boys, Sam, Snowy, JJ, Max and Elsa. We named Elsa after the vet that saved her, she was one of the weakest of the litter and we weren’t sure she would make it. They are incredibly affectionate and all of them just want to be cuddled,” he said.

Hanson is appealing to the Durban North community to adopt the puppies. “A life in a kennel is no life at all. We are appealing to anyone willing to get involved.”

Contact Hanson on 074 339 0405 or email david@phoenixanimalcare.org.za to adopt one of the rescued puppies.