Rescuers Enter An Abandoned House And Find So Many Babies Watching Them
Whenever Donna Lochmann passes by an abandoned building in St. Louis, Missouri, she wonders if there could be homeless pets hidden inside. As the chief life-saving officer for Stray Rescue of St. Louis (SRSL), she’s found countless dogs that way.
But recently, Lochmann came across an uninhabited home where she didn’t have to wonder because someone was already in the yard, alerting her.
“A mama dog barks at us, protecting her puppies who are inside an abandoned house,” SRSL wrote in a Facebook video.
The gray pit bull stood confidently in the yard, yelling at Lochmann and her rescue partner, Natalie Thomson, as they approached. She’d been the sole protector of her litter inside for weeks, and she was unsure about the strangers at the gate. But as Lochmann and Natalie drew closer, the dog’s demeanor softened, and she soon let them enter the property.
Trudging through downed trees in the yard from a recent tornado, Lochmann and Thomson entered the home through a broken window to discover that the inside was even more dangerous than the outside.
“The house was full of hiding places and mounds of trash,” SRSL wrote in a second Facebook video.
The two-story home wasn’t just littered with trash; it was in a severe state of disrepair with holes in the floors and walls. The rescuers stepped through the first floor carefully until they reached a staircase covered in layers of discarded lottery tickets.
At the top of the steps stood a group of curious puppies, tilting their heads at the sight of their new visitors.
When Lochmann and Thomson climbed up the stairs, the puppies ran into an old bedroom filled with debris and an unused bed.
“The puppies scatter and know all the best hiding places,” SRSL wrote.
The rescuers followed the puppies into the bedroom, wondering if they’d be able to find them easily through all the mess. Then, a set of eyes poked up from behind the discarded mattress.
Soon, the rescuers discovered a handful of puppies crouched behind the bed. They lifted the puppies to safety one by one, then looked around for more. Suddenly, a head popped out from a destroyed wall far out of the rescuers’ reach.
“The floor won’t hold our weight, so we decide to wait them out and set down some delicious food,” SRSL wrote.
You can see more footage from their rescue here:
The hungry pups couldn’t resist the food and eventually emerged from the wall. After scooping them up, Lochmann checked the room one more time and found a seventh final puppy hidden under the bed.
“[We did] one final check to make sure we got them all,” SRSL wrote. “Seven puppies are safe!”
The experienced rescuers worried that a pup could have been left behind in the mess, so they made a gut-wrenching decision regarding the mama dog.
“Because there are so many hiding places, we want to be 100 percent certain we got all of the puppies,” SRSL wrote. “ We set trail cams up inside the house and leave Mama here for now. She’ll take care of any puppies that may still be inside.”
The rescuers drove the puppies to SRSL’s headquarters, where the tiny babies were soon bathed and cleared for emergency foster care. Since they were no longer nursing, and the filled shelter was too chaotic for them, going to foster homes right away was the best choice.
After saying goodbye to the puppies, the staff closely monitored the trail cameras for the rest of the night, keeping an eye out for the mother dog and any potential puppies they might have missed.
“The next morning, we were confident we didn’t leave any puppies behind,” SRSL wrote.
