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Animal Cruelty

Two puppies beaten and thrown over 10-foot wall in Portlaoise

The two eight-week-old pups had been abandoned behind the high wall for about four days, leaving them severely dehydrated.

TWO EIGHT-WEEK-OLD puppies are recovering at a veterinary surgery in Co Laois after they were discovered on Monday close to death in a housing estate in Portlaoise.

The two young pups were found by local residents and taken to the vets by volunteers from the charity Cara Rescue Dogs.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Lorraine McEvoy of Cara Rescue said that they were both suffering from dehydration, having been left in the sun with no water for a long period of time.

“The little girl [above], it looks like her face has been chewed at by wildlife, maybe a rat or a possibly a crow pecked away at her while she was lying there,” she said. “She’s also blind and we don’t know if that’s because of the trauma or something else but she has bruising around her eye, lots of burst blood vessels.”

“The boy was crying, in a lot of pain and went unconscious on the way over to the vets so the volunteer thought he was dead, I mean they’re both just in tatters.”

She said the puppies, named Alfie and Lexi, could hardly walk and when they did it was “just in small circles”. The vet has also said that Lexi, the female, has a heart murmur which could significantly shorten her life span.

It is thought that a local resident owned the pups and no longer wanted them so disposed of them behind the high wall in a ditch area that leads to a railway track. McEvoy said she thinks they had been there for about four days.

She said that it is thought that the dogs were beaten before being abandoned and has been told by the vet that Alfie, the male pup [pictured above], “screams when they go to pick him up and flinches like he doesn’t want to be touched”.

Despite this, and Lexi’s heart condition, McEvoy said the charity will find them a home and has already arranged a foster placement for them.

“I’ll find them a home, even the little girl,” she said. “If she can have any quality of life and enjoy a cuddle, enjoy her food, we’ll give her roast chicken for the rest of her life but we’re going to save her.”

One thing is for sure, this duo is not likely to be separated as Lexi has taken to following her brother around everywhere, even though she can’t see him.

“This was just blatent cruelty that what drives me mad is that there’s just no reason for it”, McEvoy added.

- All images provided by Cara Rescue Dogs.

Read: Lurcher puppy has throat slashed in brutal attack>
Read: Dog hacked to death with axe on Valentine’s Day>

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