Grandparents,

Grandkids Find,

Care For Pups

By NELSON MORAIS

Staff Writer

Fourteen staggering, weak puppies facing death by starvation or other painful means were found abandoned in a ditch Saturday and nurtured back to health by a local man with a big heart.

In what may yet turn out to be a happy ending for each of the puppies, one has been adopted, and the other 13 will be up for adoption starting today at the Greeneville-Greene County Humane Society.

Lee White, of Sunset Boulevard, recalled how he found the abandoned, dying puppies.

'Beach' Trip Called Off

He said he was driving down Little Indian Creek Road on Saturday afternoon, near the Old Asheville Highway where it crosses the Nolichucky River, with his wife, Kathy, and his two grandsons, Brandon and J.P., headed to play on the Nolichucky River's sandy stretch of "beach."

Then Kathy saw one of the puppies "trotting down" the road.

Lee stopped to pick it up. Kathy was both surprised and horrified to discover 13 more puppies in a three-foot deep ditch nearby. The puppies were unable to get out, weak and silent, apparently near death.

"I just couldn't leave them there. I couldn't let them die," White said.

First, Some Milk

Believing the puppies to be from two, possibly three, different litters, though all about the same age, he took them home, fed them first with evaporated milk mixed with some warm water, then puppy food, and kept them enclosed on his porch behind his house.

He described the puppies as some brindle, "Chow" in others, and perhaps some part Australian Shepherd. He said the one adopted appears to have a little Beagle or hound blood in it. Lee said the puppies may be roughly about five or six weeks old.

Lee said after his wife found the puppies, the grandsons got in the ditch and lifted each one up gingerly by hand to their grandparents, who put them in the back of their pickup truck and drove them home.

Puppies 'Covered With Fleas'

The puppies were "covered with fleas" and more than likely had worms, even one or two with mange, Lee said.

"They were listless when we got them," Lee recalled.

Once home, Lee treated the puppies for fleas, fed them and watched them fairly quickly return to good health.

He continued to do that and washed off his porch after them periodically until he got some good news Monday afternoon: the Greeneville-Greene County Humane Society agreed to today take in the remaining 13 ones he had.

Lee said he was "tickled" with the news.

Puppies Now Much Healthier

When a reporter visited Lee at his home Monday, some of the 14 puppies yelped happily and soon tired of playing with each other before snuggling together in a corner of the porch and falling to sleep in the warm sun.

Lee described the puppies as "good-natured." He added, "They'll make good pets for someone."

This afternoon, Lee was scheduled to take them to the Humane Society where they will be examined individually by a veterinarian, spayed and neutered, treated for fleas, vaccinated, dewormed, microchipped and put up for adoption at the Humane Society facility on Hal Henard Road, then available for adoption for $80 per puppy.

Need For Spaying, Neutering

Amy Bowman, manager of the Humane Society, said the rescue of the dying puppies once again pointed to the need for people to spay and neuter their pets to avoid unwanted pregnancies and similar situations.

She said the Humane Society has "a very low-cost" spay and neuter clinic -- costing as little as $32, depending on the size of the pet.

Stray pets that people find will be taken into the Humane Society, which is a "no-kill" facility, as space is available. That means they are cared for until they are adopted, she said.

Second Option

The other option is to take a found stray animal to Animal Control for euthanasia, a process Bowman described as more humane than leaving a pet to die by starvation, a vehicle running them over, an attack by other animals, or disease.

Eddie Key, animal control director, said that with only a phone call away, stray animals will be picked up for free during the day by his agency when contacted. However, if the owners are found, they are charged, he said.

Key said that, on average, about 25 percent of the animals taken in to animal control are adopted. Most of the rest are euthanized, he said.

Bowman said for those unable to adopt any of the 13 puppies, the Humane Society would welcome donations to pay for the food and care of them.

Checks should be made to and mailed to: The Greeneville-Greene County Humane Society, P.O. Box 792, Greeneville, TN. 37744.

The shelter is open Monday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The phone number is 639-4771.

The phone number for Animal Control is 798-1777.