First the Good News ...

Lindsay handing over her €605 donation to Shelter Manager Yvonne ... with Jelly and Peter taking a keen interest.

... then the Bad News!

NINE puppies dumped outside the shelter the same morning

Caravan volunteer Lindsay de Ruiter is such an enthusiastic supporter of PAWS she is about to complete her third visit to work at the shelter. But from previous experience she felt just volunteering wasn't enough. She had seen the havoc and extra expense PAWS suffered all last year from the epidemic of dumped puppies, some of them already virus-infected.

So she appealed to her family and wide cirlce of friends and colleagues to support her efforts by donating to PAWS. The result was a handsome €605, handed to shelter manager Yvonne Tromp two days before she left to return to the Netherlands.

But by the most cruel irony, the very same morning she handed over the money, nine very young puppies were dumped overnight outside the shelter. Christened "the ice cream litter" (don't even ask ... PAWS is running out of names for litters of dumped puppies, there have been so many) the puppies will be named individually when they have had a spell of careful observation in the quarantine unit.

The upside of this is that Lindsay and all the people who generously donated will now know exactly how their money is being spent - it will be used to feed, medicate and prepare the puppies until they are old enough to become available for adoption.

So a very big thank you from PAWS to Lindsay and all the family. friends and colleagues who have now made these defenceless puppies' lives and future a whole lot better!