On January 2nd, Kai, a Shar-Pei crossbreed was abandoned at Ayr railway station in Scotland. With him he had a little suitcase containing his pillow, bowl, food and a toy puffin. He was microchipped so his former owner was able to be tracked. He said he had sold Kai on Gumtree a year previously and did not know to whom. Later a rather garbled and dodgy sounding story emerged of a woman meeting someone at the station to buy Kai (now named Pluto) and the so called seller doing a runner. However, Kai was in good condition and very well trained so he had not been neglected.
He was taken in by the Scottish SPCA who had hundreds of calls and applications to adopt him after his plight went viral on social media.
Funds were crowd-sourced to have his eyes operated on. He suffered from a condition which meant that the eyelashes curl inside the eyelids.
And then finally a new home was found for him, with Ian Russell, who had lost his beloved Dalmation in December. Ian is a hydraulic engineer and his work (mainly outdoors) takes him all over Scotland. His dogs go with him everywhere and have lots of time to play in the countryside.
Sadly though, this seems to have unleashed a spate of copycats, with this dog being abandoned at Eastbourne railway station yesterday. His long nails are not a good sign. The worst part is he looks like he is crying….
Thank God for the Ian Russells and for you, Janet.