Just to give you all a happy update, this is from tonight's London Evening Standard (I type really fast!)
Thousands Jam Lines to Adopt Pups Left in Squalor
More than 200 puppies found living in squalor in a windowless shed will be rehomed after charities were inundanted with calls.
Phone lines jammed and computers crashed at animal rescue centres as almost 3,000 messages were received offering to adopt the pups as well as 39 cats.
The animals were found locked in filthy plastic containers ina shed with no light or heating in West Sussex, following the death of their breeder, 23 year old widow Elizabeth Stevens.
Celia Hammond, whose clinic in Lewisham is caring for 86 dogs and 29 cats said "The emails crashed our computer and we took on five people to man the phones. It is wonderful so many were touched by the plight of those poor animals. Their future looks brighter".
Barbara Allen of Croyden Animal Samaritans, added "We have had people on the phone in tears after reading about how these dogs have suffered".
Mrs Stevens died on Sunday after a stroke. The 204 Yorkshire Terriers were rescued from the shed in Hurstpierpoint after her son Christopher raised the alam. The animals were living in a 40ft shed crammed into tiny boxes and caked in their own excrement and urine. The boxes were stuffed with urine-sodden newspapers. Six puppies were found dead, and some of the bodies had been eaten by the other dogs.
It has emerged that in 1998, Mid Sussex district council told Mrs Stevens to reduce the number of dogs but did not enforce the warning. A local animal activist said the council issued a second warning a year ago, but again failed to follow it up. A council spokesman would not confirm the second warning but said an internal investigation was under way.
Mrs Steven's family said they had no idea the animals were in such bad condition. A qualified pharmacist, she was last issued with a breeder's license eight years ago, but did not need one after that as she was not breeding pets commercially.
A friend of Mrs Stevens who lives in the village said "She began breeding Yorkshire Terriers in the seventies. She was intelligent and so well educated. It said that in the later years she obviously wasn't coping well. It's shocking that a woman who adored animals let them and herself get into such a state"
(end of article)
So thank goodness those puppies are going to find good homes! Those charities as well will screen all potential owners so here's to a better future for all of them after such a horrendous start to life
