National

Puppy after puppy stagger out of SC woods. ‘Sad sweet mom’ needed help finding them

Three puppies and their mother were living in the woods on their own, a South Carolina animal shelter said in a Facebook post.
Three puppies and their mother were living in the woods on their own, a South Carolina animal shelter said in a Facebook post. Screengrab from Orangeburg County Animal Control and Shelter Facebook

A resident from a South Carolina town saw a small, black puppy emerge from the woods.

Then, their neighbor found another shortly after.

Two days later, they had three puppies on their hands, a local shelter said.

But the puppies’ mother was nowhere in sight, according to Orangeburg County Animal Control and Shelter’s Oct. 9 Facebook post. The dogs were “hungry, full of fleas and covered in mange,” the shelter said. They were found in the town of North, which is about 30 miles south of Columbia.

The group of three weren’t alone for too much longer, the shelter said, because their “sad sweet mom showed up looking everywhere for her babies.”

“She was very hungry and scared but she waited patiently where her puppies were being kept safe in a kennel,” the shelter wrote.

The mother reunited with her babies soon after.

The shelter estimated the mother to be about 3 or 4 years old and is considered friendly with other dogs. The puppies are said to be about seven or eight weeks old, the shelter said, and they have been “vaccinated, dewormed and have received medication for mange and fleas.”

However, the group of dogs were still living in the forest at the time of the shelter’s post. Then, the shelter made a request to the local community.

“Can a rescue step up for this little family out in the woods?” the shelter said on Facebook.

Several Facebook users clammered in the comments to foster the wandering canine family, in addition to linking several animal rescues in the area.

The shelter did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ Oct. 13 request for an update on the dogs’ whereabouts.

Read Next
Read Next
Read Next

This story was originally published October 13, 2023 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Puppy after puppy stagger out of SC woods. ‘Sad sweet mom’ needed help finding them."

Makiya Seminera
mcclatchy-newsroom
Makiya Seminera is a national real-time reporter for McClatchy News. She graduated from the University of Florida in May 2023. She previously was a politics reporting intern at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, and The State in Columbia, South Carolina. She also served as editor-in-chief of UF’s student-run newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator in 2022.
Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER