RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) is searching for the culprit responsible for abandoning a mother dog and her puppy on the streets of Richmond.
The mother dog was found “near death” alongside her puppy on the 2100 block of Carrington Street around 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. She barely had a pulse, and had a body temperature of only 90 degrees when she was rushed to Virginia Veterinary Centers (VVC) for treatment, RACC said. There, the mother dog, affectionately named Magnolia, was able to be stabilized.
Diagnostics show the cause of Magnolia’s near-death conditions to be starvation, not any type of underlying illness, according to RACC.
“It feels like these horrible cases are increasing,” Richmond Animal Care and Control said in the Facebook post. In early January, RACC saved nearly 30 puppies “from a terrible situation” in Richmond. On Dec. 22, a very pregnant mother dog was saved by RACC after she was dumped on the streets of Richmond in brutal, freezing temperatures. The mother gave birth three days later, on Christmas night.
“We can’t keep up with the number of animals that are being abandoned and neglected to this level — that are just being left to die a horrible death, and it’s heartbreaking, it really is,” Christie Chipps Peters, director of Richmond Animal Care and Control, said.
The five-month-old puppy found with Magnolia is doing well, and “wouldn’t leave her side; it was heartbreaking all around,” RACC continued.
Richmond Animal Care and Control is asking the public for help with identifying the person or people responsible for abandoning the dogs. If you recognize the dogs or have any information about the situation, you’re asked to contact RACC through Facebook or Instagram, email Paul.Campbell@rva.gov or call 804-646-5573.
Magnolia will remain in the hospital recovering at VVC through the weekend. RACC said it is hopeful she will recover, and be able to be reunited with her puppy.
