Four Tilbury area dogs are recovering at the Windsor-Essex Humane Society after an extensive search to locate the missing animals over the holidays.
The fourth dog was found on Saturday outside an industrial recycling factory. The animals were believed to be abandoned.
Giving up and losing hope was never an option for Tina Boudine who, along with nearly 40 volunteers, spent last week searching for the dogs they believed were abandoned.
"I chased them all day, behind factories ditches and I lost track of them," says Boudine.
Boudine's neighbour called her early last week saying there were nervous dogs hanging around their backyard.
She was able to snap some pictures before they ran away and she saw one was injured. She feared coyotes or the frigid temperatures would kill them before they could be saved.
"It was a big stress, but I never gave up,” says Boudine.
Her friend Shannon Bulmer helped lead the search.
“We start searching through fields and we find the prints," says Bulmer.
Three of the four dogs were found on New Year’s Day in a scrap yard.
The fourth puppy, now named Grace, was found Saturday at a truck stop near the Highway 401.
"I started throwing treats, just throwing treats and it took about five times before they would accept that I wasn't going to hurt them," says Bulmer.
All skinny, malnourished and in need of medical attention, they are now recovering at the Windsor-Essex Humane Society while an investigation continues.
"They've come in as strays so we don't actually know how they got where they were and that's something that we're still trying to find out," says humane society executive director Melanie Coulter.
The case is being handled by the Chatham-Kent branch of the OSPCA while the animals recover in Windsor.
Coulter says it will take time for their rehabilitation, so it will be a few weeks or months before they can be adopted.
Under the OSPCA Act, the maximum fine for permitting distress to an animal can reach $60,000 or two years in jail.
