Reunion!

May 13 2009

28 of the most beautiful border collies descended on the RSPCA’s Malaga HQ this morning for what turned out to be their first reunion in two years.

The huge family – known as the ‘Hunter’ dogs – are just a fraction of the animals seized in 2006 from a notorious vexatious litigant Mr. Lindsay Hunter.

The RSPCA seized the dogs – all 64 of them – after a complaint that the animals were being held in a vehicle. Footage of the dogs being released from the vehicle – a combi - shocked viewers across Australia as the animals, many of them puppies, poured from the filthy vehicle.

The dogs were suffering a variety of ailments including parasitic infestation and poor body condition.

The case dragged on for almost two years prompting the RSPCA to last year call on the then Attorney General Jim McGinty to review the Vexatious Proceedings Restriction Act 2002 to protect the RSPCA against further actions by Hunter.

The RSPCA was forced to spend in the region of $250,000 on actions involving Hunter and the care of dogs seized from him, an equivalent sum to that raised by 15,000 supporters at last year’s Million Paws Walk.

The final hearing on Thursday July 10 saw Justice Heenan dismiss Hunter’s final challenge and the dogs were finally adopted by their owners, most of whom had fostered the animals, intending to hand them back to the RSPCA once they had recovered from their trauma.

“The fact is that the foster carers who took care of these beautiful dogs simply fell in love with them”, said Richard Barry, spokesman for the RSPCA in WA. “They may have come from a traumatic past but just look at them now.”

Because of the confined conditions the animals were kept in, in-breeding caused serious genetic defects in several of the dogs.

Donna Wieland, an RSPCA staffer and a proud owner of Suzie said: "Most of the dogs have a personality issue but to us owners, they're just quirky and it is nice to meet the other people and talk about these problems like we have today. It is also about trying to piece together the Mums & Dads of each dog as it puts the jigsaw together. ALl in all a wonderful day."

But it doesn't end there. The Hunter dogs have become an important reminder to WA of just how important animal welfare is to everyone in this state and to illustrate just how significant they have become, the dogs will start this year's Million Paws Walk.

If you'd like to see the dogs, get down to start of the Million Paws Walk or just look out for the gorgeous clan of border collies!

 

More pictures here