Neglected puppies used as 'money makers' rescued by animal welfare group

Tuesday, 4 June 2019

Four male puppies have been taken in by an animal welfare organisation after being found neglected by the woman selling them.

Helping You Help Animals (HUHA) founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said she was alerted by members of the public to a Trade Me listing selling toy poodles in Auckland.

'These puppies in the photos, they looked in a pretty sorry state,' Press-McKenzie said.

'They didn't look well kept, they looked a little shutdown, they didn't have that little puppy sparkle in their eyes.'

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Posing as a buyer, Press-McKenzie flew from Wellington to Auckland on Sunday, meeting up with a HUHA volunteer to get the puppies.

Press-McKenzie said the 21-week-old pups were let out of a garage at the female seller's Mt Wellington home when they arrived.

'They were in the sorry state we were expecting which was really sad,' she said.

One of the puppies was confident but the rest were nervous and didn't want to go near them, she said.

The seller wouldn't give a straight story about how she came to have the puppies. The breeder's name was covered by a sticker on the vaccination papers.

But Press-McKenzie was able to uncover the breeder's name and contacted them.

The breeder claimed she was told the puppies would be given to the woman's friends and family – but she had purchased them to sell on.

Press-McKenzie said the original breeder should have checked this.

She said the breeder had sold the puppies to the woman for $400 each. They were being sold on for more than $1000 each.

'We managed to negotiate a fair price and we got the puppies,' Press-McKenzie said.

'Some people might wonder why we would have bought them but they were not in a good way and they needed to get out of that situation.'

Press-McKenzie said it was a really sad situation as the woman selling the puppies wasn't interested in them or their care.

'She was very money-motivated,' she said.

The puppies are now in Wellington at HUHA's vet clinic. They will be resocialised, desexed, and given to loving homes.

SPCA said it hadn't received a specific complaint about the situation but it would be investigating.

Trade Me's head of trust and safety, George Hiotakis, said the team removed the listing at the weekend.

'It was removed as we were concerned it breached some of our terms and conditions,' Hiotakis said.

'We also received some complaints about this listing which we're looking into and we've been in touch with the seller.'

Trade Me has a Code of Animal Welfare which sellers are required to adhere to.