EMERGENCY SHELTER RELOCATION WARNING SENSITIVE PHOTOS**

TL;DR

We are a street dog rescue charity based in south Sri Lanka. We lost four of our shelter dogs after someone poisoned them. The dogs are not safe in our current location so we need to move. We’ve found a new space, but we need money to:

- A six months deposit for the rental of the new location, equivalent to 750 Pounds

- Build a secure perimeter fence

- Clear the land

- Build secure sections to separate the dogs

- Build sheltered areas to protect the dogs from the elements

- Recover costs from the huge vet bills

Hi everyone, my name is Elisabetta and I, together with my wonderful team, run an animal rescue called Underdogs Srilanka. We’re a small street dog charity in the south of Sri Lanka that helps dogs in urgent need, working from our modest rescue centre, located in the Galle district.

This week, an unspeakable tragedy occurred, that we’re still trying to get our heads around – our dogs were brutally poisoned.

On Monday, three of our dogs started showing mild symptoms of illness; low energy and vomiting straight after eating, with one dog having no appetite at all – for our dogs this is very concerning. We became increasingly concerned when this behaviour continued, and after a few hours we rushed Muffin and Chester to Dog Care Clinic (a veterinary hospital and fellow street dog centre). Tragically, both dogs began violently vomiting up blood and within just a few minutes, both had passed.

While this was happening, we were frantically arranging for Butter to come to the same vet, as she had mild symptoms and we didn't want to take any risks. The same drugs were administered and she was admitted for observation.

An autopsy on Chester revealed that he had been heavily poisoned. We returned to the centre in shock, only to receive the news that Roby, Baba and Bambi were all showing the same symptoms. Frantically piling into the tuk, we raced back to the vet. Sadly, Roby was in critical condition within minutes of arrival, declining rapidly and dying shortly after.

We later learned that the dogs weren’t vomiting blood; they were choking on the blood in their lungs – essentially drowning in it – which is the most horrific way to go. We cannot even begin to describe how it feels to watch your beloved animals choke on their own blood and die in front of you. This is something we will never get over.

Within a short time, Baba also started to decline – her breathing became increasingly heavy, and she couldn't stand, but she started making improvements with the medication, so we had a glimmer of hope. Baba and Bambi were also admitted for treatment and observation, and we made the sad journey back to the centre to bury Chester, Muffin and Roby.

We woke to the news that Butter and Bambi seemed okay, and Baba was slowly improving. While Butter and Bambi appear to have made a full recovery (though still receiving medication), Baba sadly passed early the next day.

A police investigation is underway to try to find the perpetrator/s of such a horrible and despicable crime, and we are absolutely determined to seek justice for our babies.

The sad thing is that poisoning dogs is a common practice here in Sri Lanka, either for revenge or because people are annoyed by the barking. The worst part is that we have always been very open to discussion and relocation if necessary, but we’ve never received any complaints from neighbours, so we are at a loss as to the motive of this crime.

We’re in shock and trying to process our heartbreak and grief, but have had to put our feelings aside for the moment, to concentrate on keeping our surviving dogs safe. We CANNOT stay in our current location. We are terrified what will happen next. Our hearts can’t take anymore.

We’ve already found a new property, which is perfect to set up a new shelter! However, while the land is big enough to host our babies, it doesn’t have a fence around it, so we need to build one as quickly as possible. We also need to clear parts of the land, create new sections and build sheltered areas to protect the dogs from the elements.

This is where we need your help – we haven’t been receiving many donations due to the global economic situation, and the recent huge vet bills have crippled us, so we don’t have the money to make this happen. But we have to protect our pack. We are desperate.

Please donate if you can – any small amount will help – and if you can’t donate yourself, please share.

Thank you