A SWAN Hill couple caring for five puppies found dumped in the Mystic Park Forest have launched a scathing attack on local dog owners who continue to breed “without any regard for their welfare”.
Nigel and Trudie Murch, owners of Swan Hill Pet Boarding, said the 10-week-old mastiff pups were infested with fleas and underweight when they were delivered by Mystic Park resident Bob Flett on Monday morning.
“[Mr Flett] was walking his dogs through the forest and saw something move out of the corner of his eye,” Mr Murch said.
“On closer inspection he found five little puppies under a bush. It took him an hour to round them all up.
“He’s a customer of ours and knows we do a little bit of rescue work so he contacted us.”
With vet bills starting to pile up, the couple is calling for donations from the community, while also urging local dog owners to take responsibility for their animals.
“We see so many posts on other local [social] media sites that are just shameful to be honest,” Mr Murch said.
“They put these dogs of random breeding up for $100 bucks each but then as time goes on and they find that no one’s interested, they’re all of a sudden faced with pups that have fleas and are in need of medical treatment.
“Rather than have the intelligence to contact a rescue group, they feel the less shameful thing is to dump and abandon them.
“These same people cry poor yet there they are smoking away,
driving their new car with mag wheels, wearing jewellery with their $5 take away coffee and McDonald’s, yet they can’t afford to flea treat, worm or de-sex their dogs.”
On Tuesday, after flea treatments, vaccinations, several “good feeds” and lots of TLC, Mr Murch said the pups were starting to “act like puppies again” and would soon be ready for rehoming.
But he said they would only go to the very best of homes to ensure they were not trained as hunting dogs.
“We’ll have to weed out the people who we consider are not suitable owners — we’ve already had a few,” he said.
He said despite the breed’s image, mastiffs made beautiful family pets with the right owner and training.
“With a diligent owner, you’ll have a lovely caring dog.”
He said anyone who adopted a dog from Swan Hill Pet Boarding was offered free training “for life”.
RSPCA Victoria Senior Inspector Simon Primrose yesterday condemned the dumping of the puppies and encouraged anyone with any information to come forward.
“Dumping is a cruel and irresponsible act, particularly when surrendering animals to a shelter is such a simple alternative,” he said.
The maximum penalties for abandoning an animal are a $36,000 fine, 12 months imprisonment and a ten year ban on owning animals.
These penalties can be doubled if the animal dies or is disabled as a result of the abandonment.
Mr and Ms Murch are in the process of setting up a charity fund for future rescues.
