Near death puppies rescued from Manitoba First Nation dump

Two puppies rescued from a dump on a Manitoba First Nation are on the mend and will be sent to a shelter in British Columbia, along with 19 other puppies and dogs rescued from the area.

The puppies were near death when they were discovered by chance after members of Save a Dog Network Canada got the call to help a woman struggling with strays on her property.

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The group said the woman's property was attracting stray dogs. She had several of her own, and had recently unknowingly purchased a dog that wasn't spayed.

It later gave birth to 11 puppies. The woman was overwhelmed by the number of dogs visiting her property and the puppies and got in contact with the group for help.

"She can't afford them, I guess you could say. A lot of young pups – she had at least 20 dogs there," said Jordan Demarais, a friend of the woman's.

He said she lived near the highway so packs of dogs would stop at the property and stay with the ones she owned.

"They're all friendly. They're family dogs. They're pretty much family dogs," he said.

With the birth of the puppies, the problem became too much, so Katie Powell and several other volunteers headed up to the area.

They picked up 17 dogs from her property, but before they left, decided to stop by the community's dump to make sure no one had left any dogs there – garbage dumps can be a common dumping site for unwanted animals.

There, they found two puppies clinging to life and an adult dog dead.

One puppy was curled up on an old cushion, missing hair with sores on his body.

The dogs were taken to Winnipeg, and the network has secured foster homes, food and veterinary care. The pair from the dump are recovering at the same foster home.

Next, all of the puppies, including the ones rescued from the woman's property and the dump will be sent to an animal shelter in B.C. because local shelters are full.

Demarais said stray dogs are a continual problem on many reserves in the province.

"Lots and lots of the dogs are stray. Lots of them end up getting hit along the road every couple of days," he said. "We always see them in packs running around together, hunting, we always see them out in the bush trails."