Four emaciated puppies found abandoned in Niagara-on-the-Lake Tuesday afternoon are recovering at the Greater Niagara Humane Society in St. Catharines.
As of Wednesday, the puppies are doing OK, said senior manager of operations Cortnie Welychka.
“They are pretty malnourished and they are full of parasites. They’re in isolation currently, but they are under constant care,” she said.
Around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, a woman arrived at the humane society with the puppies she said were found in a tote at Niagara-on-the-Green Park in Glendale just a short time earlier.
Welychka said they appear to be about 10 weeks old and to be a mastiff/shepherd cross.
The smallest was only about two kilograms in weight when they arrived at the humane society, she added.
“It’s hard to say if they were actively with a mom or bottle fed or not, but they definitely should be significantly larger than what they are, especially for 10-week-old puppies and that type of breed.”
Despite what they have been through, she said they are very lovable and open to human contact.
“They love attention and being held, and they’re actively getting busier as they start to feel better, but they are pretty dumpy still.”
“As they kind of get more food regularly and things like that, they’ll definitely perk up. But they’re loving. They definitely want to be loved,” she added.
While adoption is the end goal, there will be no rush to their recovery.
“Our focus is purely on them,” said Welychka.
“Once we get them stable enough, we will likely put them in a foster home.”
“That way they can get all the attention that they deserve. And then from there, we will place them up for adoption.”
Bad year for pets
When it comes to animal abandonment and surrenders at the humane society, 2024 has been a bad year, says Welychka.
“Usually we’re not as full, but the shelter is absolutely full of animals.”
“This year has probably been our highest intake of puppies,” she said, speaking of the post-COVID years.
This is the second case of animal abandonment in NOTL in the past month.
In late October, a group of friends were walking near the water treatment plant on Lakeshore when they discovered three kittens.
That anyone would dump a pet rather than bring it into a shelter is beyond Welychka’s understanding.
She says internal discussions at the humane society about increasing public awareness have already begun to let people know that surrendering is always a better option.
“We were talking with staff today about ‘Why does this keep happening? What else can we do?'”
“I’m going to kind of sit down with our team today and this week to kind of see how we can kind of push out to make you know our presence in the community known and explain why we are here.”
