It was around 9 a.m., two hours before opening, when Great Plains SPCA (GPSPCA) staff received a frantic message from a concerned community member. The Good Samaritan had found an abandoned crate at an intersection in Shawnee, Kansas, and was shocked to discover 11 babies trapped inside.
The Good Samaritan had no idea how long the puppies had been confined to the crate. Still, they knew the tiny litter was in immediate danger due to the location and impending weather.
“It is a fairly busy road, and they were rescued right before we got a massive downpour of rain in our area,” Victoria Roland-Vaughn, GPSPCA’s social media coordinator, told The Dodo. “They had nothing to protect them from the elements. No food or water …”
Great Plains SPCA
Thankfully, the Good Samaritan refused to let them suffer on the busy street corner. They scooped the puppies up and shuttled them straight to GPSPCA’s headquarters.
The shelter staff welcomed the puppies but had instant concerns about their other residents. These 6-week-old puppies were extra vulnerable, and with plenty of sick animals living at the shelter, their friends at GPSPCA wanted to avoid exposing them to any illnesses.
“With parvo-positive puppies already onsite and ten other puppies exposed to that deadly disease, we simply could not keep more young dogs at our shelter for their safety,” Roland-Vaughn said
Great Plains SPCA
The staff posted a plea on social media for emergency fosters and placed the puppies in a shared kennel as far away from any sick animals as possible. After everything they’d been through, the young litter couldn’t wait to take a much-needed group nap.
“All of these pups are filthy, exhausted from their ordeal and immediately fell asleep once they realized they were safe,” GPSPCA wrote on Facebook.
Great Plains SPCA
The puppies slept while their new friends combed their community for potential foster homes.
Then, a miracle happened overnight: 6 of the 11 pups found foster homes together. But the remaining five babies went unclaimed, and they begged every visitor who walked by their kennel to give them a chance
Great Plains SPCA
A few hours and a couple of applications later, the rest of the pups found joint foster homes to decompress in. Finally, the entire litter of puppies was safe, and the staff at GPSPCA could breathe again.
“Our community stepped up in a massive way,” Roland-Vaughn said.
Great Plains SPCA
The puppies will spend the next three weeks in foster care until they are big enough to be neutered and adopted. While they wait, the rambunctious babies will continue to soak up their time together, whether napping or wrestling.
“Now that these pups are in foster care, they are blossoming into the happiest puppies you’ve ever seen,” Roland-Vaughn said. “You would never know that they went through a terrifying few hours from how playful and loving they all are.”
The GPSPCA staff look forward to seeing each puppy find their perfect forever home soon. Despite their heartbreaking origin story, the puppies now have bright futures ahead of them — an outcome that GPSPCA believes couldn’t have happened without the help of their fantastic community.
“It’s thanks to their dedication and love for our shelter pets that we can see these puppies frolic and learn what it means to be loved,” Roland-Vaughn said.
If you live in the Kansas City metro area and would like to be a part of GPSPCA’s team of fosters, you can email them at foster@greatplainsspca.org.
You can inquire about adopting a puppy from this litter here.
To help animals like this litter of puppies get the care they need, you can donate to Great Plains SPCA here.
