A Siberian Husky from London, Ontario is being hailed a hero this week for taking action to save his friends and himself.
The Husky, 13-year-old Kiki, was abandoned in a moving van along with two cats and two other dogs, including Rottweiler-Siberian Husky mixes Buddy and Six Toes.
Kiki had been muzzled by his owners and left along with his friends to die in that moving van, but the hero Husky was unwilling to give up. Though he was unable to bark, he found another way to alert passersby — he honked the vehicle’s horn until help arrived.
“I think [Kiki] figured out how to use the horn,” London Humane Society Executive Director Judy Foster told the London Free Press. “Dogs are very smart; they watch us all the time.”
Kiki’s desperate plea for help finally caught someone’s attention last Monday, December 10. When the concerned citizen contacted local authorities about the honking Husky, members of the London Police Department responded. They found the moving van in a crowded parking lot, its horn still blaring, Kiki in the driver’s seat.
Upon investigating the vehicle, officers discovered Buddy, Six Toes, and two cats living in deplorable conditions.
“It was evident that they required medical attention,” London Police Constable Ken Steeves said of the three dogs and two cats.
“They obviously haven’t been receiving the appropriate care for some time,” Foster said.
Officials have estimated that Kiki and his friends had likely been left in the moving van for a week. No food or water was found with the animals upon their rescue. Foster is certain the five animals would not have survived for much longer if it weren’t for Kiki’s efforts.
“We’ve received numerous calls from people asking us to find a hero award for this dog,” Foster told TODAY.com.
Though the animals are finally receiving the care they so desperately needed, their road to recovery will be a long one; according to the National Post, officials estimate that it may take months for them to fully recuperate from their ordeal.
The pet owners, Donna Hebert and Allan Folkins-Wyre, have both been charged with five counts of cruelty to animals under the Criminal Code of Canada statute 445 (1)(a), reports the London Community News: three counts of causing distress to an animal, one of failing to provide the necessary care for these animals, and one for failing to provide adequate and sanitary living conditions. If convicted, they face possible fines of up to $10,000 or as much as 18 months in prison.
The couple also faces additional cruelty and neglect charges from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, charges which carry a maximum fine of $60,000 and two years in jail.
The London Humane Society had been investigating Hebert and Folkins-Wyre prior to this event, after neighbors complained that the pair hadn’t been caring for their pets properly. But when investigators arrived at the couple’s home, Hebert, Folkins-Wyre and their animals were nowhere to be found. It is believed that the investigation may have prompted the pair to hide their pets in the moving van.
Sources: TODAY.com, NationalPost.com, LondonCommunityNews.com, LFPress.com
