Looking for answers

Sitting side-by-side, you can hardly tell Kaylee and Evie apart - two small mixed-breed dogs, both dark in colour, both nursing pups.

The volunteers and staff at the Exploits Valley SPCA can't say for sure, but believe the two canines could be sisters, or at least, from the same family.

Both of the dogs were brought to the shelter after being found behind the former paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor.

A Good Samaritan rescued Evie on Christmas Eve - and although very thin, she gave birth to a healthy pup just three weeks ago.

SPCA Special Constable Michelle Keats said when Kaylee arrived at the shelter on Friday, she had already given birth to five puppies.

But Keats wasn't surprised to see the second dog. The SPCA had been receiving reports of dog tracks in the snow in the same area Evie was located.

"I got a call Friday after lunch from a lady; her daughter was up behind the (former) mill walking her dog," Keats said. "She called and told her Mom she saw this dog and it took off and they were gone chasing it."

Keats and her co-worker immediately left in search of the animal, and just as they were about to head back, the girl and her friend emerged from the woods.

"He was coming out with five puppies in his jacket," Keats said.

The pair brought Keats through the woods to where Kaylee and her pups were found. "She had the babies born in a rock cave," Keats said.

Now after weeks of wondering if there was indeed a second dog waiting for rescue, the staff at the SPCA are nursing Kaylee and her puppies back to good health.

"It was faith that those two people out walking their dog found her (and her puppies)."

But while this story has a happy ending, Keats said many innocent creatures aren't so lucky.

She said while they have had to turn away animals at the SPCA, they never turn away a stray - it's what they stand for. She said these dogs didn't have to suffer the way they did.

"If anybody that got it in their mind to do what happened to these pups, to drive up there and let them go and fend for themselves, they could have came here and just leashed them onto our fence," she said. "We would have gotten them."

Now the shelter is looking for any tips that might lead them to who is responsible for leaving the two dogs behind.

"They're like humans. You have to dress up to go out and you still find it cold - these two little (dogs) can feel cold, and they were hungry," she said.

For the next six weeks, both Kaylee and Evie will remain at the shelter with their puppies, until they're ready for adoption.

"They're sweet dogs. They're looking for a good home now."

But Keats isn't encouraged by the growing number of cases of abandoned or abused animals in the region.

She said the message just isn't getting across to residents.

"Obviously it's not."