00:00Abandoned, alone and left to fend for themselves, these dogs were found dumped on the side of
00:06a busy road, frightened and in urgent need of help. Last week, Swale Barrow Council were notified
00:12that three stray dogs had been found on Ruins Barn Road in Sittingbourne at around 5.30pm.
00:18Witnesses reported seeing a van speeding away, suspected of abandoning the animals.
00:23Now at the time when the dogs left the van, they were running all up and down this road,
00:28full of busy traffic. Now this would have been a very different outcome if it wasn't for the
00:33lovely people that helped these dogs to safety. Just your bog standard Wednesday afternoon, traffic
00:39was building up, obviously a bit of rush hour. As I was passing this spot here, I saw a van come
00:45really quite quickly out, headed up that way with dogs running around all over the road and then
00:52they started running after the lorry, the van. My initial thought was that he had taken it for a
00:58dog walk, this is a very popular area here where you see a lot of dogs and cars parked up and I
01:02thought perhaps some terrible mistake that he had left the dogs behind, but he had it dumped them.
01:08Dogs then started running further up the road, zigzagging all over, people just stopped,
01:14everyone got out of their cars, tried to encourage the dogs back down here and we managed to get the
01:19dogs. By this time I think about four other cars had stopped here, pulled in here safe,
01:23we managed to get the dogs back here to us. They were very thin, they were covered in their own
01:28sort of dog matter, they were covered in the fleas. A spokesperson for Swell Borough Council
01:34said our animal control service working with the RSPCA made sure the dogs were safe and received the
01:41treatment they needed. We have since secured rescue placements for all three dogs and you can support
01:46their ongoing care by donating directly via the Angels for Dogs website. Thank you to the residents
01:52of Swale for their vigilance and care in helping to ensure the safety of these dogs. Tonight the dogs
01:58are safe, but their story is a stark reminder that animal abandonment is still happening far too often.
02:05Holly Spires for KMTV in Sittingbourne
Comments