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A puppy that was left to die in a dog food bag filled with maggots and fleas with seven of its siblings has been adopted by its rescuer.
Nicole Olsen and her daughter Harper found the Kelpie-cross puppies when they heard whimpering coming from a concrete bin at a truck stop between Wigley Flat and Kingston on Murray, northeast of Adelaide, on November 1.
The mother kicked off the lid and found two 20kg dog food bags stacked on top of each other with coat hanger wire wrapped around the zip locks to seal the sickly dogs inside.
After the six surviving pups were nursed back to health for five weeks by RSPCA volunteers, the Olsen family this week decided to adopt Angel, who unlike its siblings is coloured red.
Pictured: Nicole Olsen with her new puppy, Angel. Ms Olsen found Angel in a bin with her siblings
Pictured: Angel after she was rescued from a bin with her seven siblings. Two did not survive
‘She was the smallest and seemed to be struggling a lot, so we all had a soft spot for her,’ Ms Olsen said, adding that she is still saddened that someone left the pups to die.
‘The kids wanted to adopt all six puppies, which of course wasn’t practical, but we felt it was good to adopt at least one of them so our children can care for her themselves, and enjoy a happy ending out of such a sad situation.’
Angel will now live with Ms Olsen, her partner Michael, daughter Harper, and the family’s 10-year-old poodle cross, Harvey, who loves other dogs.
On days when the family is at work and at school, the puppy will stay with her mother-in-law Mary, who lives nearby.
Ms Olsen kicked the lid of a bin off and found two Drover brand 20kg dog food bags (pictured left and right)
Pictured: Some of the surviving five-week old Kelpie-cross puppies after a litter of eight were discovered in dog food bags in a bin
‘Angel won’t be alone much,’ Ms Olsen said.
‘We’re all determined to give Angel the best life a dog can have – we feel blessed to have her.’
All six surviving dogs have now been adopted.
When the puppies were found, the temperature was 25C which effectively made the concrete and metal bin a hellish oven for the distressed puppies.
One of two puppies that passed away after being dumped in an extremely remote bin with six of their brothers and sisters
Two puppies (pictured) at the bottom of the lower bag were limp, covered in maggots and fleas and completely unresponsive. Pictured: Two surviving puppies
Unlike humans, dogs cannot sweat through their skin and rely on panting and releasing heat through their paw pads and nose to regulate their body temperature and keep cool.
Cooling down is next to impossible for a puppy trapped in dog food bags with seven others in a hot metal bin.
Ms Olsen was returning from a family event in Renmark to her home in Gawler and called family members in two other cars to help save the puppies.
Family members divided the puppies between three vehicles and wrapped the two sickest canines in towels and rubbed them to keep them conscious.
Ms Olsen (pictured with Angel) was returning from a family event in Renmark to her home in Gawler and called family members in two other cars to help save the puppies
Once home in Gawler, RSPCA South Australia collected the puppies and rushed them to a veterinary clinic. Pictured: Angel after she was rescued
Once home in Gawler, RSPCA South Australia collected the puppies and rushed them to a veterinary clinic.
But one of the seriously ill puppies died in transit while the other puppy at the bottom of the bag was euthanised because it was too far gone.
The remaining six puppies, three female and three male, were all flea-infested and dehydrated.
RSPCA South Australia Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis said ‘this incident falls into the highest end of callous treatment of animals’.
RSPCA South Australia Chief Inspector Andrea Lewis holds two of the saved puppies. Ms Lewis said ‘this incident falls into the highest end of callous treatment of animals’
An RSPCA worker cradles two of the puppies. The puppies were cared for by RSPCA volunteers
‘These puppies were found purely by chance, and we have no idea how long they had been there,’ she said.
‘You would have to assume that whoever did this did not want those puppies to survive, because this person has not only left them in a remote location but they have also put these young animals inside tightly secured bags, and then put the bin’s lid down.
‘It truly beggars belief that anyone could do this to eight vulnerable puppies, and we urge anyone with any information about who might be responsible to come forward.’
Abandoning an animal is a crime under SA’s Animal Welfare Act, and anyone found guilty faces up to two years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine.
However, a conviction could attract higher penalties because of the aggravated circumstances that led to two of the puppies dying.
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