At 9 a.m., just two hours before opening, the team at Great Plains SPCA (GPSPCA) in Shawnee, Kansas, received an urgent message. A Good Samaritan had stumbled upon a crate left at a busy intersection — and inside were 11 tiny, abandoned puppies.
The passerby didn’t know how long the babies had been trapped there, but the situation was dire. Not only were the puppies at risk from traffic, but dark storm clouds were rolling in.
“It is a fairly busy road, and they were rescued right before we got a massive downpour of rain in our area,” said Victoria Roland-Vaughn, GPSPCA’s social media coordinator. “They had nothing to protect them from the elements. No food or water …”
The rescuer acted fast, gathering up the 6-week-old litter and rushing them to the shelter.
When staff welcomed the puppies, their relief was mixed with concern. The shelter was already battling cases of parvo, a dangerous and highly contagious disease that can be deadly for young dogs. Keeping the new arrivals in the building put them at serious risk.
“With parvo-positive puppies already onsite and ten other puppies exposed to that deadly disease, we simply could not keep more young dogs at our shelter for their safety,” Roland-Vaughn explained.
Staff quickly posted an urgent plea for emergency foster homes, while the exhausted litter curled up together in a kennel, finally safe enough to sleep.
“All of these pups are filthy, exhausted from their ordeal and immediately fell asleep once they realized they were safe,” GPSPCA wrote in a Facebook update.
By the next morning, their community had rallied. Six of the puppies were placed in foster homes overnight, and before long, applications came in for the remaining five.
Soon, the entire litter was safe and cared for in homes where they could rest and grow stronger.
“Our community stepped up in a massive way,” Roland-Vaughn said.
The puppies will stay in foster care for about three weeks, long enough to receive vaccinations and be spayed or neutered before finding forever families. In the meantime, they’re making up for lost time with naps, playtime, and plenty of cuddles.
“Now that these pups are in foster care, they are blossoming into the happiest puppies you've ever seen,” Roland-Vaughn said. “You would never know that they went through a terrifying few hours from how playful and loving they all are.”
Thanks to the compassion of a stranger and the dedication of the GPSPCA community, 11 abandoned puppies now have bright futures ahead of them — and a chance to discover what it truly means to be loved.
If you live in the Kansas City metro area and would like to be a part of GPSPCA’s team of fosters, you can email them at foster@greatplainsspca.org.
You can inquire about adopting a puppy from this litter here.
To help animals like this litter of puppies get the care they need, you can donate to Great Plains SPCA here.
