The Pipe Pups Need Your Help Now!

Life Animal Adoptions & Emergencies
1

Down by the river park in Muzha, southern Taipei, I found a border collie mix and her six pups running around the grass two Sundays ago. The pups were full of life, rolling and tumbling on each other in the cutest way possible, unaware life had dealt them a raw deal. For at the moment their life, their home, is the riverside grasses, and a narrow drain pipe running under the bicycle paths.

Stray Dog and I have been out capturing these adorable little creatures and have managed to find at least temporary homes for two of the pups, and also the mother (who we’ll capture after all the pups are taken care of).

These are all beautiful dogs, highly intelligent, and easy to train. We’re looking for some good homes to take the remaining four in. You don’t need to make a lifelong committment at this point. We need to get them out of the pipe and grasses they are now living in before the dogcatchers get them and put them down. There are two white and two black pups if you have a preference.

It’s pretty urgent that we find at least temporary homes in the next few days. If you can help please send me a pm or call Stray Dog 0920 620 109.

2

Stray and I were out again trying to catch the remaining pipe pups. We couldn’t see them at first and I wondered if any were still around. Then I heard a little uncertain woof coming from the high thick grasses. Well, at least one is alive I thought and we placed the cage down on the ground in front of the pipe and created a little trail of stinky dog food to the inside.

Then we waited. There was no sign of puppy life again so we headed down to the streambed. Waterfowl were out in number today and we spotted giant cranes, egrets, kingfishers, drongos, and dozens of chattering bulbuls. The grasses were alive with birds and if the pups were in there it was hard to tell their movements from the movements of other creatures.

We were close to giving up for the day when two little black furballs scampered out from a tunnel burrowed into the grasses followed by two white furballs a short distance away. After focusing on the birds for so long this was really like spotting more wildlife and Stray and I both let out a funny gasp like we had just seen bear cubs. The pups gave us a surprised look and trotted off down the streambed only to disappear in the grasses further on.

Stray and I returned to the cage and waited but the pups had been spooked and did not show their faces again.

We will try again Friday.

3

Despite repeated efforts we have not been able to catch the remaining four pipe pups.

Yesterday they were out frolicking beside the bike paths. An adorable sight as they had paired off into black and white couples. But as we drew closer with the giant cage that had taken their beloved siblings away (to a better life but they don’t know that) the four pups scampered into the bushes. Not even the smell of a delicous can of Irish stew dog food would temp them out.

As usual locals came by to ask what we were doing. I have improved my vocabulary so I can now explain clearly that we are trying to catch them so we can take them to the vet for shots, de-worming, and neutering. We will then find homes for them. Heads nod in approval at the finish of what is a mouthful to say in Mandarin.

The pups are well known among local residents and well admired for their utter adorableness. This adorableness can still be yours.

Wish us better luck catching them tomorrow. We need something really stinky in the cage. Maybe Stray Dog himself.

4

Jia you :thumbsup:

5

[quote=“Mucha Man”]The pups are well known among local residents and well admired for their utter adorableness. This adorableness can still be yours. [/quote]Aww… well put. I have a rather full house, but I know they’re going to find excellent homes soon!

btw, SD is not stinky… why do y’all keep saying that…? Shmell him. He ain’t.

6

Four down, two to go.

Yesterday, after repeated failed efforts to catch the pups, stray and I realized our second success in helping save these poor little creatures living in a pipe on the banks of the Jingmei River.

It was a blazing afternoon, far hotter than we had expected. Pup rescuing was going to be a little uncomfortable today. But we laid the cage down, tossed some stinky food inside and sat down on a cement bench to wait.

Usually we see the pups when we arrive and they subsequently scatter. Today they were invisible until we were just about to give up. Like a team of horses trotting over the horizon in a westen, the pups, with mother, suddenly appeared over the river bank. The mom spotted us and went into National Geographic mode, moving away from the pups and barking at us to divert our attention.

“Don’t look at the pups directly,” Stray said.

From the corner of my eye I followed them as they scampered down the edge of the bike path toward the cage. The four of them gathered outside sniffing and sampling the bait.

Two then stepped in, nicely a black and a white, but we worried that when they sprang the latch the door would drop on one of the others, allowing those inside to escape.

But just as the white stepped further into the cage, the two outside ran to the side and the latch sprang and released the door perfectly. We had them.

A massive ruckus then erupted as the pups howled. They calmed down when we approached and by the time we had them in the back on stray’s van they were pretty quiet. They were noticably heavier than the first two we had caught weeks earlier.

So here they are, two little beauties, with big intelligent expressive eyes. We have a temporary foster for them, but are looking for a permanent home. If you can help pm me or call Sean from the SPCA at 0920 620 109.

7

Well the saga of those loveable little pipers has come to its next phase. Two have been adopted out, two remain at the river with mom, and two are in need of a new foster. If you can help pm me or call Sean from the SPCA at 0920 620 109. These little guys have been living with people for a few months now and it would likely kill them to have to be returned to the river.

Plus they are too big to fit in a pipe.