A Norfolk animal sanctuary has described the heartbreaking neglect which their latest cohort of rescues were subject to.
Over the weekend Hillside Animal Sanctuary, which has a base in West Runton, carried out their largest rescue mission to date, when they saved 30 dogs and puppies from an unlicensed puppy farm in Wales.
Since then the team at Hillside's second base in Frettenham have been working tirelessly to monitor the health of the dogs, resulting in one puppy being rushed to the vet with a suspected brain haemorrhage.
Hillside founder Wendy Valentine explained: 'One of our staff members Cheryl Copeland went in to give the dog, named Herbie, his breakfast on April 30. Around two hours later she checked back and a huge lump had appeared in the middle of his forehead.
'It's not yet clear whether it's a cyst, but if not he'll have to go under anaesthesia to be x-rayed for a brain haemorrhage.'
The sanctuary already lost one of the rescues to an aggressive tumour. The dog was also pregnant, so her puppies were lost as well.
The sanctuary is run entirely on donations, and this rescue will set the organisation back thousands of pounds.
Ms Valentine continued: 'It'll cost us thousands and thousands to get all the dogs to the re-homing stage. Some of the dogs have mange, none are neutered or spayed, and they all need micro-chipping. It's a burden on top of the thirty dogs we already have here.'
She continued: 'We brought back the puppies and dogs which could be safely transported. Staff are already asking me when we can go back for the ones which were too young to travel. It's nice that they already want to go back when they're already working long and extra hours.'
Ms Valentine, who founded the organisation in 1995, added: 'The dogs are not very socialised with humans. The ones which are, are really nice, but they're more socialised with each other.'
Ms Valentine continued: 'The lady who ran the puppy mill was an eccentric- she was trying to create new breeds of dogs, as if we didn't have enough already. It was a horrific welfare situation.'
To donate to the sanctuary, call Hillside on 01603 736200.
The sanctuary has also put out an appeal for extra bedding for the animals, and ask anyone with spare duvets, blankets or towels to get in contact.
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