The five puppies that arrived at Langley’s Patti Dale Animal Shelter on Thursday, Oct. 6 are lucky to be alive, after someone abandoned them on the side of a busy highway.
The dogs were rescued by a mom and daughter who were driving from Abbotsford to Langley on Highway One, said Sarah Jones, executive director of the Langley Animal Protection Society (LAPS).
The daughter spotted a Rubbermaid-style container by the side of the road. Then she saw a head pop out of it.
They pulled over and discovered the five pups inside the container, all about seven to eight weeks old.
Mom and daughter hauled the entire container into their vehicle and took the animals to the LAPS shelter in nearby Aldergrove, Jones said.
The dogs were having some bloody stool, but all tested negative for parvovirus, fortunately, said Jones. They were also panting and stressed. It’s unknown how long they had been in the container by the side of the road.
Whoever left the dogs there exposed them to a significant amount of danger, Jones said. After they arrived at the shelter, one of the pups managed to jump out of the container on his own. They could have gotten out of the container and wandered onto the busy highway.
By Thursday afternoon they had all been vaccinated, dewormed, and de-fleaed, said Jones.
They’ve also been named, going with a Sesame Street theme.
The four boys are Elmo, Oscar, Bert, and Ernie. Their sister is Abby.
If they are medically okay, the pups should be available to adopt in a few weeks.
But for now, they can’t stay at the Patti Dale Animal Shelter.
“We are seeing more and more animals abandoned, unfortunately,” said Jones.
Animals are being left in dog parks and at the side of the road.
The dog quarters at the shelter are already at or above capacity, and there are 50 cats in the shelter, too.
So this batch of pups will be going to Doghouse, a program at the Fraser Valley Institution, a federal women’s prison. The inmates there take part in an employment training program where they learn how to handle, train, and groom dogs to give them employment skills for when they are released.
The staff and inmates there will give the pups lots of attention, Jones said.
LAPS is holding it’s 14th annual fundraising gala next month, on Nov. 14. The Emerald Gala will mark 20 years of LAPS working for animal welfare in Langley.
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