edmontonsun.com

Sun, June 4, 2006
New chance for puppies
Rescuer coaxes owner into letting her remove younger dogs

By MAX MAUDIE, EDMONTON SUN

An animal control officer sweet-talked her way onto a property overrun by dogs - some cannibalizing each other - and made off with 20 sickly puppies stuck in squalor.

On Friday morning, the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals seized six dogs from the property just south of Buck Lake, 151 km southwest of Edmonton.

The dogs - four were puppies - were seized for various reasons. One was blind, a couple had other eye problems and the others had injuries to their heads from dog fights.

Later Friday, Wetaskiwin County animal control bylaw officer Jody Napier went to the rundown property rented by Donna McPherson, 69, with some groceries and bottled water.

Over 50 dogs roamed the place, living in buildings on the property, under trailers and sheets of tin, and in ditches.

"I probably took three or four puppies off dead dog carcasses, where they were eating. They had resorted to cannibalism out there to survive," said Napier.

She said she doesn't have the same powers of search and seizure as the ASPCA.

She brought McPherson - who has no running water or power - $100 in groceries and bottled water.

"I said, 'How about I just take the babies from you? At least then it's not so much work for you,' " recalled Napier.

The ASPCA continues their investigation of the property and couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

Napier said the veterinarian at the Wetaskiwin Animal Clinic went above and beyond the call of duty by working late into the night, examining, hydrating and deworming the pups.

"I've got a jar with probably a good wiener-size (mass) of worms that came out of one puppy this morning," she said.

Various animal organizations from northern Alberta stepped up to take the puppies in.

They'll care for them until they're old enough, and, in some cases, well enough to be adopted.

Carol Tischer of the Humane Animal Rescue Team took in 17 pups.

"What a chance for these puppies," said Tischer. "How could you not help these little people? They're little people in fur."

Stephanie McDonald, executive director of the Edmonton Humane Society, yesterday visited the puppies at Tischer's Edmonton home.

She said four puppies were taken to the society for treatment.

They, and the rest, will be put up for adoption once they're checked over by their veterinarian and deemed adoptable.

But she and Napier said the puppies were in remarkably good shape considering what they'd been through.