Puppy seized by gardaí following drug exchange 'doing well' in Cork animal charity 

Volunteers from My Lovely Horse Rescue rushed to the capital after receiving a call from gardaí in Kevin Street about the distressed lurcher pup

Volunteers from My Lovely Horse Rescue (MLHR) rushed to the capital after receiving a call from gardaí in Kevin Street about the distressed lurcher pup, who has since been christened Annabel.

A three-week-old puppy seized by gardaí in Dublin following an exchange for drugs in the city centre is “doing as well as expected” after being rescued by a Cork-based animal charity.

Volunteers from My Lovely Horse Rescue (MLHR) rushed to the capital after receiving a call from gardaí in Kevin Street about the distressed lurcher pup, who has since been christened Annabel.

“We are 95% sure that she is going to make it,” said rescue co-founder, Martina Kenny. “But right now, she’s not healthy, she’s too skinny, and she needs to be fed properly. She needs some goodness.” 

Since being taken into care at My Lovely Horse, Annabel has been sleeping a lot, and has been feeding on puppy milk with some puppy food in it.

“It took a while at first, but she’s getting there. Her belly was quite wormy, but these are all things we can get past, I hope.

“She is doing as well as can be expected, considering she was taken from her mam at such a young age.

“I hope she’ll be OK, but it’s very early to tell, especially with such a tiny little puppy, anything can happen.” 

The team at MLHR are hoping that they can bring Annabel back to full health within the next 10 weeks.

Since been taken into care at My Lovely Horse, Annabel has been sleeping a lot.

Their plan is to then get her vaccinated and microchipped before putting her up for adoption.

“And from then on, her real life begins — a comfy sofa, a lovely family and hopefully, with another dog. Her future looks really bright and sparkly,” Ms Kenny said.

According to Ms Kenny, dogs “being bartered for drugs” is not unusual.

“Dogs are used and abused for everything really at this point.

“It’s out there, it’s common, and it’s awful.

“You are bartering with a life.

“A few years ago, we also had a very sick pony that was exchanged for a mobile phone,” she said.

Ms Kenny acknowledged that Annabel “could have ended up anywhere” and thanked the guards for their help.

“Thank God for the guards, the right people were there, and they got her.

“Some of our volunteers are guards which is great, we work well with the guards.

“We really support them as much as we can, and they support us as much as they can.

“However, we still need a specific Garda animal crime unit.

“It only needs to be two or three guards; it can start off like that, but it is our 2024 mission to get it.

 “We just have to,” she said.

Martina Kenny at My Lovely Horse Rescue said: “It took a while at first, but she’s getting there. Her belly was quite wormy, but these are all things we can get past, I hope."

According to Ms Kenny, Ireland is “smack bang in the middle of a really horrendous dog crisis.” She said dogs are being given up and abandoned all over the country.

“Cruelty is on the rise as far as I can see, and I have never, in all my years, seen it like this before.

“We are becoming a third world country as far as some our animals are concerned.

“There are dogs roaming the streets. We domesticate them and then we just throw them out like they are rubbish.

Annabel is doing as well as can be expected, considering she was taken from her mam at such a young age.

“That shouldn’t be the case, not in this day and age,” she said.

My Lovely Horse relies on public donations and Ms Kenny said, “we need all the help we can get” as Annabel’s care will “cost a fair bit of money.” 

“We put so much money into all the animals, so we do need the donations really badly.

“We just took in a sick foal as well and all of these things add up hugely, but we’ll never stop, never,” she concluded.