At first glace, it just looks like another one of those horrible Craigslist ads where people are selling off their puppies.
“7 ‘Blue Pitbulls’ need a re-homing fee..asking for $100.00 each,” it reads. “Need a new lovey home 3 days old.”
Wait, what? Three days old? Someone is selling three-day-old puppies on Craigslist? Puppies who seem to have a mother and father?
Fortunately, there are people in this world who do not merely tsk-tsk such things and close their browser. Amanda Giese, founder of Panda Paws Rescue, is one of them. When a tipster alerted her to the ad, she got to work. She puts the listing on her rescue’s Facebook, and rallied the troops. She didn’t just want to the posting to be taken down, she wanted to save the puppies — and, above all, keep them with their mom, because they are far too young to be weaned.
She also wanted to make sure the poster never did it again.
According to the Examiner, Giese got proof — emails, texts, and verbal communication — that what was taking place actually was taking place. Then she went to the Fontana Police Department.
Officer Jamie Simmons jumped on the case, and by 5 that night — the same day Amanda was tipped off — the mom and six of her seven dogs had been taken from the seller and were safe at a local vet.
Unfortunately, the seventh puppy had been sold the day before. Its whereabouts and condition is unknown.
Amanda wrote about the rescue on her Facebook: “We had mom stay at the hospital last night & she received a thorough check-up. She is a great young mom, eating & drinking, still has some post-labor discharge & is stressed out.”
The seller, a woman aged 24, is facing “a slew of charges,” according to the article. Amanda also says that the Pit Bull mom was actually a stolen dog, though she does not give specifics.
What’s amazing about this story is that the rescue took place in Fontana, Los Angeles, while Amanda resides 1,000 miles away in Vancouver, Washington — she saved all these dogs remotely, with the help of people on the ground in L.A.
As for the Pit mom and her pups, they’re soon going to see Amanda. As soon as the puppies are old enough, Wings of Rescue is going to fly them up to Panda Paws Rescue, where the staff will get to work on finding them homes.
Amanda writes, “Fortunately, they are all safe & we will be finding homes for Mom & her blue puppies as soon as they are over 8 weeks, vaccinated, microchipped AND ALTERED!”
Via the Examiner