A LOCAL animal lover says she was “disgusted” to hear eight kelpie puppies had been dumped in a bin at a truck stop less than 20km from her rescue shelter.
Moorook Animal Shelter owner Lola McLachlan said she “felt sick” when she was told about the puppies, which were discovered by a passing motorist at a rest stop located between Wigley Flat and Kingston-On-Murray on Sunday afternoon.
The dogs had been enclosed in two dog food bags with coat hanger wire wrapped around near the zip-locks, and placed into a concrete bin.
The woman – who found the litter – managed to kick the lid off the bin and, along with her six-year-old daughter, freed the puppies from the bags. Two were unresponsive and covered in maggots.
All eight puppies were taken to a veterinary clinic, but one puppy had died during transit and another was euthanised on humane grounds.
Ms McLachlan said she struggled to understand “such cruelty”.
“I can’t understand why people are so cruel like that,” she said.
“Considering all they had to do was come to the shelter – I’ve never refused a dog or a pup – and just put them in the pen.
“It is just unreal to think about.
“Shelters will take them straight to the vet and make sure they are looked after and get through the hard part, so don’t dump animals – and I can’t say that enough.”
The act of cruelty thrust the Riverland onto the national stage, with news outlets from all over the country sharing the sickening dumping.
RSPCA South Australia Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis told the Murray Pioneer the six surviving puppies are expected to make full recoveries.
“I saw the puppies last night and they were all feeding well and looking fairly perky, so the vets are hopeful they will continue to make a good recovery and we’ll look at them being adopted in the about six weeks or so,” she said.
Ms Lewis said the dumping of unwanted animal litters was a “semi-regular” occurrence.
“They tend to be in quite obvious places where they are meant to be found, like out the front of pet shops and shopping centres and places where there is a much better chance of them being found,” she said.
“Sadly, these ones didn’t get that luxury – they were literally thrown away like rubbish.
“It’s just ludicrous because we can adopt puppies from our shelter every day of the week.
“We find it quite easy to re-home puppies and kittens – so it just blows my mind that someone would do something like this.”
Ms McLachlan said the number of unwanted animals left at the shelter had increased since mandatory registration for animal breeders was enforced in 2018.
“They can’t advertise them because as soon as they advertise them the law is onto them and asking them whether they have a breeder’s licence,” she said.
“Why people don’t just get their dogs desexed I will never know.
“I know it is expensive up here, but people can go to Adelaide and do it for half the price.”
Ms Lewis encouraged those with unwanted animals to take them to a shelter, the RSPCA or the Animal Welfare League.
“It was just a cruel act to dump them in a bin where no one would find them,” she said.
“A lot of the time an animal shelter or rescue will help by not only rehoming the animals but in a lot of cases we can also help to desex the animal so it doesn’t continue to happen.
“It’s quite a lot of work to look after a litter… so we would encourage people to desex their animals as a regular thing.”
Once recovered, the puppies will enter the RSPCA foster care program for four to six weeks before being put up for adoption.
“They’ll be very high energy and they’ll need a lot of training and interaction with their owners,” Ms Lewis said.
“Also, a big thank you to Nicole and her family who stopped and found the puppies and bought them back to the city where they could get the attention and help they needed.”
Abandoning an animal is an offence under South Australia’s Animal Welfare Act, with penalties including up to two years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine.
The RSPCA is urging anyone with information on the incident to call 1300 477 722.