Lisa and her friend Karen were enjoying an after-work Friday glass of wine in Karen's kitchen last night while Emily and Karen's daughter (Emily's school friend) Claire were down the street at the local playground. We had only had about 3 sips worth of conversation when we hear Claire, "Mom...can you guys come out here we need to show you something." Claire and Emily were standing at the door clutching a teeny, tiny, flea-ridden, mangy Rottweiler mix, but clearly Bahamian potcake, puppy.
Apparently Emily and Claire were playing when they spotted 3 or 4 puppies running out of the woods. The little one they had in their hands was running toward them while the rest of them ran back in to the woods. Karen quickly called her dog lover friend for advice and she advised that we bathe him in Joy detergent (and boy did it kill fleas) and then see if we could get him something to eat. After he was all washed and dried we left him in Claire's capable arms and Karen, Emily and Lisa went on a puppy hunt. Well - to be completely truthful Emily went on a puppy hunt, Lisa and Karen stood on the edge of the thick woods and called out encouragements/distractions.
What Emily found in the woods - after crawling through thick bracken and poky things - was obviously a common dumping ground for abandoned puppies. There was an empty fridge there and a small, dirty pond that the dogs had been drinking from, but the most telling signs that this was a common dumping grounds were the puppy skeletons spread throughout the clearing.
Through much petting and coaxing and crawling Emily managed to capture 3 more of the litter. Claire and Emily had a very solid try at the rest but it was getting too dark and they were headed too far back in to the woods.
Lisa went home to fetch Mark's help and all 4 puppies were bathed, dried and cuddled a lot. They ate their rice and cat food dinner as though they hadn't seen food for days (which they probably hadn't) and curled up together in a big puppy ball.
Karen was brave enough to keep them overnight and Emily stayed to help until this morning. All is well that ends well - the puppies went to the Humane Society this morning and two of them may even get adopted by our friends Tricia and John.
Mark took Emily straight to Wendy's for a Frosty treat as an award for a job well done. You should have seen the determination and grit as she marched in to those woods to save the puppies!
A word on dogs in The Bahamas. We have found that the majority of native Bahamians are very afraid of dogs. Probably because there are so many strays (potcakes) around. As pets they are rarely spayed or neutered, and although there are some obviously coddled and cared for family pets, a lot of the dogs owned here are not treated very well. From the plumpness of these puppies it is our guess that they were just finished nursing and then taken out and dropped in the woods in the midst of a field of skeletons. The dumper knew they would probably die. On this occasion, Emily Claire and Karen managed to save 4 very lucky dogs but why the dumper didn't just take the pups to the Humane Society is beyond us. There is a lot of work to do here in the dog department. We thought it would be great to set up a shelter that would ship these gorgeous potcakes to the States for adoption. Anyone want to start a new charity??
Pictures of the adventure are below. We sent Emily back in to take photos this morning. I warn you that the dumping location pictures are disturbing.
The fridge that was the main shelter for the puppies.
The entrance to the woods.
The dirty pond the pups were drinking from.
Puppies not as lucky as the ones below.
This one we named fluffy - he was the cutest in terms of looks.
This one is Mangy (for obvious reasons) - he was the cutest in terms of personality.
Emily is bathing her last rescue (I think she named her Toffee)
She didn't like it very much.
Mark's best friend Mangy.
Chow time!
We had to stop them from climbing in the food.
10 comments:
Oh, that's just awful. I'm so glad at least those four were lucky enough to be found/sought-out-in-the-pokey-woods by caring people. They are so stinkin' cute!
That's the saddest darn thing I've ever heard. If I lived near you I'd adopt one myself.
Em, you are brave and amazing. Thank you for taking care of those puppies and helping them find good new homes. You're really an "animal lover" and we are so proud of you.
Love, Gaga and Bapa
Oh my goodness this story broke my heart... and with how I'm holding up in the pet department, I might have ended up with one if I was there... which brings me to: I'm surprised the Cabrellis didn't end up with one... :-)
Em, maybe you could put your pictures and some text together on a webpage and email it to people you know who could contribute by PayPal to you and you could give the money to the Humane Association in Nassau to help more puppies. Maybe even your friends in Reston and your families in PA, MO and NY would want to contribute, etc.
Love, Gaga
those puppies are so cute and good job Emily for saving so many...I thought for a moment you might keep one...or two! I guess the cats wouldn't be too pleased if you did.
Dear Em - what a brave and loving little girl you are! Those were lucky puppies to have you find and care for them. I like Gaga's idea of contributions to the local Humane Society. Good for you! I'm glad you're dodging the worst of the hurricanes! Love from Aunt Cathy and Baxter
Oh good job Emily for saving the day! How sad, terribly sad. You all did a great thing.
Kudos to Emily for a job well done and a great lesson learned! Those dogs are totally adorable!
Oh, poor puppies! and that from a woman who isn't partial to household pets (bad woman!). I think setting up a charity to ship them to the States is a great idea!
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