A Xmas Eve Rescue

Yet Another Innocent Snare Victim

It was just after noon on Xmas Eve, and a message arrived asking us to rescue a young female dog in desperate need of help. When we watched the attached video clip, our hearts sank: the stray was clearly starving and both her front feet were gone—yet another innocent victim of the thousands of illegal poachers’ snares and gin traps that plague the otherwise beautiful Taiwan countryside. The poor girl was struggling just to hobble around at the side of the fast road where she had taken up residence in a derelict brick shed piled high with rubbish and recycling. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the passerby who sent us the clip explained that nested in the pile of rubbish in the doorway of the brick shed was her litter of newborn pups.

Their location was about two hours south-west of Taipei, in a mountain area popular with campers—and already known to us as one of many hot beds of poaching activity. Our main rescuer was unfortunately out of action with seasonal flu, so our co-founder quickly offered to end his Xmas Eve family lunch and head there himself, arriving just as darkness fell. The mum and her babies were huddled together in the middle of a pile of recycling and trash.

A Fast (Food) Rescue

When our rescuer approached the mum, who was in the middle of nursing her ravenous young puppies, barked a warning to leave them alone. She wasn’t aggressive—just being understandably protective of the babies she had given so much of herself to get this far. We shudder to think if she was caught in a snare while pregnant or—even worse—when the babies were born.

Knowing that the struggling mum must be incredibly hungry, we had brought some warm hot dogs—an unhealthy but irresistible treat we often use as bait for dogs too wary to let us approach. When we through her a morsel, it immediately grabbed her interest, and she quickly realised we might be a source of much-needed (and tasty) nutrition. She jumped up and hobbled over to us, sitting up on her hind legs in the only pose comfortable for a dog with no front feet—and also looking like she was begging us for more.

From there it was easy: we just threw more and more pieces of hot dog into the back of the dog crate we had brought from the rescue vehicle—and the hungry young mum soon went all the way in to get her fill. All we had to do was close the door behind her and then go pick up her six babies and put them in a separate crate. Often rescues can take us days or even weeks, but we were so grateful that this one was so quick and easy, because we knew this little family needed immediate help.

In Good Hands Now

Within two hours, Mary, as we had named her, and her six special two-tone puppies, Terry (F), Jerry, Horace, Neville, Lynval, and Rico, were being seen at A-Niu, a 24-hour veterinary hospital in Shilin, a district in the north of Taipei City. Dr. Huang immediately examined the whole family, including a muzzled Mary, and started bandaging her stumps.

We’ll post updates about Mary and her puppies regularly, so be sure to subscribe to follow their journey. And, if you too believe that the suffering strays of Taiwan deserve the chance to have their lives transformed, please consider becoming a donor today. We’re not a rich charity and have no huge salaries to pay, so your donation really will have a huge impact on a stray in need—or a family of strays like Mary and her pups.

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