Pubdate: Thu, 24 Mar 2011 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2011 Postmedia Network Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html Website: http://www.theprovince.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Ian Austin, The Province RCMP GET DOGS, POT PLANTS IN RAID Mom, 8 Pups Put Down; 3 Adopted Out This is a tale about Mounties, marijuana and puppies. The saga started when the RCMP Caribboo Regional Integrated Marijuana Enforcement Task Force searched a rural Williams Lake property and found more than 8,600 pot plants. But the officers got more than they expected when they encountered a baker's dozen of dogs -a female German shepherd with eight pups, as well as three other German shepherds and a Bernese mountain dog. Cpl. Dean Robinson knew the pups would not survive once the power was cut. "I decided right then I couldn't just leave them there," said Robinson, who took the mother and her pups. "I'm a dog lover, and wanted to give these dogs a chance at survival." Robinson returned to the grow-op the next day, and arranged for Williams Lake SPCA to pick up the mom and pups as well as the three German shepherds, which appeared to have been abandoned. Sadly, the mom and pups, which had been living adjacent to the grow-op, had contracted a highly contagious disease know as parvo and had to be euthanized. The three other German shepherds have been adopted out to loving families, and Robinson has initiated a fundraiser with the help of the SPCA and the local Save-On-Foods. The store's manager, Mark Law, created a points donation program allowing Williams Lake residents to donate their points to the SPCA. Save-On-Foods is matching the donations dollar for dollar. "Rarely do you come across a grow-op of this size without finding some secondary issue going on," said Robinson. "But finding this blatant disregard for the health of these dogs really hit home for me." Two men were arrested in the Jan. 31 event and released. No charges were laid. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.