Puppy Prince lands on his paws

My recent stories may lead some of you to think that we have completely stopped rescuing stray dogs at Animal Tracks. Stories of goats, kites, rabbits, pigs, cattle etc. almost takes the focus away from what takes up the vast majority of our resources here: sterilising, vaccinating and treating stray dogs. Do not be fooled. Hundreds of dogs continue to be brought in to the centre and most of them leave us happier and healthier than they were when they came in.

This story is about Prince, a stray that was abandoned as a pup but rescued by IAR supporter Tracey. She has an apartment in North Goa and contacted the centre because a very large number of unsterilised strays were roaming the area and causing problems for the residents. IAR managed to catch and sterilise 19 of these dogs using trap cages. Tracey watched the trap cage and informed the office every time a dog went in. It was a very successful project.

Prince was only a few weeks old when his mother abandoned him outside Tracey's apartment and she took him in and cared for him. She was unable to keep him as she was going back to the UK so work began o find a suitable home for him. With the help of local residents a home was found in South Goa so when he was around eight weeks old Tracey and Prince said their goodbyes and off he went.

I didn't meet Prince until he came to Animal Tracks for sterilisation. With his pink nose and cute face I can imagine he was a lovely little fluff ball when he was small. I went out to greet him on arrival and to reassure him that nothing bad was going to happen to him. He was sterilised and vaccinated and went straight back home after the surgery. I always catch myself thinking what fate these puppies would have met if they hadn't been lucky enough to find a loving family to look after them. Given Prince's circumstances I doubt he'd still be in this world had it not been for Tracey, IAR and his new family.