Local rescuer Eldad Hagar received an urgent call for help from PAL Rescue, a group helping homeless animals in LA. Brent, one of the group's rescuers, found an abandoned dog who just gave birth in a cave. The cave was located in the desert, which posed a lot of risk for the newborns as well as their mom.
Eldad asked fellow rescuers Katie McKittrick and Alex Babcock from the animal rescue group Hope For Paws to help save the family. The women accompanied him on the three-hour drive to the desert. They met up with Brent and his team there, who were already waiting by the cave.
The rescuers discussed the best way to quickly secure all the dogs. Eldad told Brent and his team to wait for Alex and Katie to put a net over the cave entrance before they approached. He wanted to prevent the mother dog from escaping in case it was also inside along with the puppies.
After confirming that only the newborns were in the cave, the team decided to focus on catching the mother dog first before retrieving the young ones. They set up a humane trap and scattered enough food in and around it as bait. They then moved out of sight and waited for the animal to arrive.
Luckily, while waiting, Katie spotted the mother dog along with another homeless canine. The other animal escaped quickly into the desert when it noticed the rescuers. The mother dog, however, did not want to be too far away from her babies and hid in a nearby pipe.
The rescuers sprang into action and immediately sealed all exits of the pipe. Eldad then squeezed through and coaxed the female animal out. After patiently working on it, the rescuers eventually secured the dog and decided to name her Starshine.
Incidentally, when the team went back to retrieve the puppies, they found the other dog, a female they named Shay, caught in the humane trap. With the two adult animals secured, Eldad crawled through the cave and fetched the young pups. In no time, the seven babies, named Macloud, Janezy, Norton, Bimba, Wolfie, Ronnie, and Fang reunited with their mom.
With a lot of dogs to foster, Eldad reached out to two other foster homes, The Animal Rescue Mission and Foxy and The Hounds, to possibly take in some of the animals. Shay fostered with The Animal Rescue Mission, Starshine, Bimba, Janezy, and Ronnie stayed with Foxy and The Hounds while Macloud, Norton, Wolfie, and Fang remained with PAL Rescue. Finally safe in their foster homes, the dogs now wait to find their forever families.
Credits: Hope For Paws and The Animal Rescue Mission