Fracas over ill puppy litter

A TOTI resident has accused Amanzimtoti SPCA of attempting to steal his puppies, but the animal organisation has hit back with claims of animal neglect.

William Lujiva said he took his female dog to Toti SPCA, as she had a problem with her back. She had recently given birth to seven puppies and he was told to take them in.

He said when he went to see how his dog was doing on Tuesday, 8 March, he was told the puppies had died. Not believing the story, he forced his way to the kennels where he found three of them.

“I didn’t know why I was told to take the puppies to the SPCA, as they were almost three-months-old and had already stopped suckling from the mother,” said William.

He also queried why he was initially told by SPCA staff they didn’t know what happened to his puppies and then later told the puppies had died.

“William brought his female border collie to us on 9 February,” said Amanzimtoti SPCA manager, Tracey Girling. “She was full of ticks and fleas. She was extremely thin and could not walk properly. We took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with tick paralysis, biliary and ehrlichiosis.

As William claimed to have no money, we agreed to help his dog. He brought the puppies in after-hours on the same day, but as he did not fill out any paperwork, my kennel supervisor did it in the morning.

In the morning it was established that the pups were brought in by him.

We separated the pups from the mom, as they were no longer suckling. Because of the flea and tick infestation, we immediately dipped and de-wormed them. We vaccinated them, but unfortunately four of the pups died.”

Tracey said from the time William took his dog in, he only visited her twice and never once asked after the pups, a claim he refutes. “I asked about the mother and the puppies a week after I took them in,” he said.

“The remaining three pups were put up for adoption,” said Tracey. “When he eventually asked after the pups last Tuesday, my reception staff looked in our records which stated the pups had died in the kennels.

With the volume of animals we deal with on a weekly basis, we then established that the remaining three were on our adoption block. For somebody who has no money and cannot afford veterinary treatment for his sick dog, it was better for us to re-home the pups.

Not once was he told that we didn’t know what happened to the pups. We have paper work for every single animal that comes into our society,” said Tracey.

“Why was I not notified that four of the puppies had died?” queried William, who insisted on taking his dog and the remaining puppies home. “The SPCA had my contact number. The mother dog had ticks and fleas, but there was not much on the puppies. All of them were healthy and not in a bad state.”