Abandoned dogs handed over to RSPCA

A concerned woman said she was putting food and water through a letter box and hole in a porch at the property on Ridgeway in East Herringthorpe to help the dogs.

Prior to the four Staffordshire bull terriers being taken for rehoming, the woman, who did not wish to be named, contacted the Advertiser because she was alarmed at their plight.

She said: “They are hungry and two of them have no access to water.”

She said that her son had telephoned the RSPCA on September 9 and the rescue charity sent an officer who posted a portion of food to the dogs and put seals on the door. The woman said she was told that if the seals were unbroken in 72 hours then the dogs would be seized.

The woman said that no one came to break the seals till the Friday evening, just a few hours short of the deadline.

The concerned woman said she had been feeding two of the dogs through the letterbox which meant that the only drink she could give them were blocks of ice. The other two were fed through a hole in the porch.

But a spokesperson for the RSPCA said that the dogs had not been abandoned and were being fed regularly.

The spokesperson said the owner or a friend was attending the dogs and the animals were not found to be hungry or without access to water.

The spokesperson said that the owner had not moved out but was not at home much and so accepted RSPCA advice and signed the dogs over to the charity.

The spokesperson said: “Four staffy-type dogs living at this location were signed over to the RSPCA by their owner last Wednesday and have gone to two RSPCA animal centres for rehoming.

“Though the owner wasn’t at the property a lot, the dogs were being attended to either by the owner or a friend of the owner and all were in good bodily condition.”