A flood of puppies might not be as good as it sounds - particularly when they have been dumped on your doorstep at just eight weeks old.
Right now Auckland Council is drowning in them. Twenty-nine puppies have been abandoned in the last 24 hours, the worst headcount ever.
Two separate litters were left in containers outside the animal shelter and nine others were discarded in a South Auckland park.
The city's animal shelters are already jammed. Auckland Council manager of licensing and compliance James Hassall told Checkpoint there was some CCTV footage of the puppies dumped outside the shelter.
"They were dumped prior to the shelter opening so it was a bit of a shock for my staff to turn up and see 20 puppies in a plastic box."
He said staff would be trying to track down the owner "and hold them to account".
Some of the puppies. Photo:
As for those abandoned in the park, they had not been well fed so were "not in the best condition".
Asked why so many dogs were being abandoned recently, he said it was important that owners were responsible for their pets which also meant having them de-sexed.
"That's the only way we are going to get on top of the record number of dogs we have, the record number of complaints my team have to deal with, the record number of impounded dogs.
"We can't keep on adding to the problem."
Hassall agreed reluctance on the part of owners to have their dogs de-sexed could be due to the cost - $350 for a female and slightly less for a male.
However, it was a relatively small cost compared with the cost of vet visits and food over the course of a dog's life.
Hassall said the council would soon launch a programme for the owners of registered dogs in the southern areas of the city to have them de-sexed for free.
Anyone interested in finding out if their dogs are eligible can email freedesex@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
He was unsure how many dogs would be de-sexed during the council initiative.
In response to a question about how the council's offer was being paid for, Hassall said funding had come from "different sources".
The abandoned puppies will probably be put up for adoption once they have been vaccinated and passed a temperament test, he said.
