Left to die

LUCKY TO BE ALIVE Three of the five puppies recovered from a bog in Ballina on Saturday.

Ciara Galvin

AN animal rescue charity is urging people not to abandon animals and to contact them instead.
North West SPCA made the plea after its volunteers rescued five puppies who were dumped in a bog in Ballina, at the weekend.
Thanks to eagle-eyed passersby who contacted the organisation, five out of six puppies were rescued from a ditch on Church Road, in Ballina on Saturday.
The animal welfare organisation is now urging the owner of the puppies to come forward and contact them.
“We’re asking whoever the owner is to contact us, we want to reunite the mother with the puppies so it can feed them,” said a spokesperson from the charity.
Frank and Patricia Moran, and their dog Rebel, heard the cries at 5pm on Saturday evening and contacted the organisation which quickly responded and recovered the puppies.
The puppies are thought to be just five to seven days old and it is not yet determined what their breed is. According to the spokesperson they were ‘crawling with lice’ when found.
“We’re not going to judge, we just want to get the mother to her puppies and we will return her neutered.”
At the moment the puppies are at a foster home being well looked after and will be re-homed eventually.
“At the moment it’s about keeping them alive, they’ll be re-homed eventually and vaccinated, that won’t be a problem,” said the spokesperson, who is urging people to contact the organisation if they have unwanted cats or dogs.
“You don’t have to do this anymore. We will organise something, we will always help out. It’s not acceptable,” said the spokesperson, who said though bills for treating abandoned animals are colossal, they will always help.
Donations to the registered charity can be made on its Facebook page North West SPCA Ballina via Paypal or for more information email enquirynwspca@gmail.com.