You can't keep a good dog down

A dog found starved and barely alive is now Miss Popularity

JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post

THANK-YOU KISS: 'Sweetheart' Eve, who was found locked under a house starved and barely alive, with SPCA volunteer coordinator James Fitzroy.

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Abandoned dog Eve has become a world-wide celebrity, with people as far away as Canada offering her a new home.

The emaciated 11-month-old Ridgeback cross was almost dead from starvation when pulled from under a state house in Glenn Innes, Auckland, by SPCA staff on Christmas Eve.

Auckland SPCA general manager David Lloyd-Barker said Eve's owners had abandoned her a week previously, to holiday in Rotorua, but estimated she had not been fed for at least five weeks.

The owners still had not returned three weeks later, despite extensive publicity surrounding Eve's plight, he said.

"They've obviously left her to die," he said.

"I'm looking forward to talking to them."

Meanwhile, Eve had become a celebrity at the SPCA's animal village in Mangere, with visitors lining up to see her.

"Everyone is coming in and asking to see Eve," he said.

She had also received hundreds of offers for a new home, including one from a Canadian man who was prepared to pay to have her flown across to the other side of the world.

A steady stream of donations had also been pouring in for Eve, which would go towards the cost of prosecuting her owners.

"It's tremendous stuff because obviously it costs a lot of money to prosecute these people."

Mr Lloyd-Barker said Eve's abuse was one of the worst he had ever seen - 12 on a scale of one-to-10 - and would be asking the courts to give the owners a prison sentence.

Eve weighed just 10 kilograms when first brought into the centre but was now piling on the weight and today tipped the scales at 16.3 kilograms.

 "She's being very spoilt...during the day she lives in one of the offices here and bumbles around," he said.

"She's still recovering, it's taken a lot out of her, being that ill for that long, but she is bouncing back and is gaining in confidence."

Adoptive parents would be found for Eve once the prosecution of her owner's was complete and the SPCA had been awarded legal ownership.

A "best candidate" would then be selected from the hundreds of people offering her a new home.