Animal Advocates Watchdog

Abandoned dogs rescued near Falkland lake *PIC*

http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/vernonmorningstar/news/112916374.html

By Jennifer Smith - Vernon Morning Star
Published: January 04, 2011 7:00 PM
Updated: January 04, 2011 9:29 PM
Cold, hungry and riddled with porcupine needles, two young dogs were recently discovered abandoned near a remote fishing lake.

Snowmobilers came upon two lab-cross pups Boxing Day near the edge of Bolean Lake, near Falkland.

“We found them all curled up together,” said Chris Ramakers, who rescued the dogs and is now hoping to find them a home.

“It looked like they had been there for a day or two.

“They were so skinny, hungry and dehydrated that they couldn’t walk.”

The pair of female dogs were also suffering with porcupine quills in and around their mouths.

“The one girl, we took 30 needles out of her mouth and the other one had about 100 in there,” said Ramakers, who suspects the dogs went after a porcupine for food.

The dogs received further medical attention from Armstrong Veterinarian Clinic to remove the remainder of the needles.

Ramakers, who owns Bolean Lake Lodge with his girlfriend Marquesa Shore, is angry the dogs were left up at the lake.

“They were starved and had been for a good period of time,” he said, adding that they likely wouldn’t have survived much longer if snowmobilers hadn’t found them.

No one in the community knows the dogs, and Ramakers assumes if they had run away the owner would have been searching for them.

“That’s what an owner does, they’re like our kids and that’s what you’d do if you lost your kids.”

Since the lodge is the only residence on the mountain and Ramakers hasn’t seen or heard from anyone searching for the dogs, he can only suspect they were abandoned.

“It’s pretty clear to me, I think someone just came up here and ditched them.”

And this isn’t the first time the lodge owners have been left to deal with other people’s unwanted possessions.

Since taking over the lodge from Shore’s parents in the spring of 2010, the couple have seen stolen cars ditched on top of the mountain and piles of garbage.

“It seems like a common occurrence for people to come up here and ditch the stuff they don’t want anymore,” said Ramakers.

But they can’t understand why anyone would abandon the dogs.

“They’re really young and really well behaved, just great dogs,” said Ramakers, who suspects they are no more than 14 months old.

“They’ll be a man’s best friend.”

Since the couple already have dogs of their own, they are hoping to find a nice home for the pair of lab-cross pups.

“They’ve got a really tight bond the two of them,” said Ramakers, who has thought about calling them Spirit and Trooper – considering everything they’ve been through – but is leaving the naming up to the new owners.

Anyone interested in adopting the pair of dogs can call Ramakers at 250-558-9008.

Two young lab cross dogs were found cold, hungry and in need of medical attention Boxing Day at Bolean Lake, near Falkland.
submitted photo
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