Two puppies found dumped in a bin less than two weeks before Christmas have died after battling parvovirus, a common killer in dogs.
Hope Rescue in Llanharan took them both in on December 10 and gave them festive names but believe they came from backyard breeding or a puppy farm.
They were found by a member of the public, discovered dumped in their bin in Aberthin, just outside of Cowbridge.
Both were riddled with fleas and had sarcoptic mange, a skin condition, as well as being underweight with diarrhoea and the dreaded parvovirus.
Read more: Two puppies dumped in bin weeks before Christmas battling deadly virus
The puppies were too young to tell their breeds yet, but looked like a type of hound or hound cross.
On December 18, Hope Rescue shared the heartbreaking news that Parsnip passed away that evening and on Christmas Eve, the rescue centre announced they had lost Sprout.
A spokesperson for Hope Rescue said: “We’re devastated to let you know that we made the difficult decision to let Sprout go this morning.
“He started being sick overnight and he was in pain despite pain relief and it wasn’t the right decision to continue.
“We can’t thank the wonderful team at Maes Glas enough for everything they did for Parsnip and Sprout.
“We weren’t sure whether to update with such sad news before Christmas or not, but we’ve received so many messages asking for an update.
“Please be assured that we will continue our fight against backyard breeders and puppy farmers in 2022, and we will make sure Parsnip and Sprout’s tragic story is heard.”
Hope Rescue had been posting regular updates about Sprout and Parsnip to their Facebook page, where each post was met with thousands of likes and hundreds of comments of well wishers.
The news of Sprout’s passing has already been met with over 300 comments.
One said: “Two beautiful puppies, lucky to find love and kindness just a little too late, gives me an overwhelming feeling of sadness.
“Thank you for all you did to help them though, your kindness is second to none.”
Another said: “Let’s hope we can get some tougher laws brought in for breeders so these poor little ones don’t have to keep suffering unnecessarily.”
Many commented that Sprout could now rejoin his brother Parsnip over the rainbow bridge.
Poor Parsnip and Sprout were never granted a proper chance at life, but their legacy will be a new surge in the fight against unscrupulous dog breeding.
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