Thread: Newborn police dog puppies left to freeze to death at Queensland's Oxley academy Rea

THE Queensland Police Service will be investigated by the RSPCA after a litter of dog squad puppies froze to death for want of a cheap heating box.

The Sunday Mail has learnt five newborn German Shepherd puppies died in Brisbane's police academy kennels at Oxley after a bitterly cold night last winter.

Sources have revealed the squad was down one of its two kennel hands so could not maintain a 24-hour watch on the animals, as done for previous births, and no one was on duty the night the pups were born.

By the time the pups were discovered about 6am the next day, their body temperatures had plunged and they had suffered organ failure.

RSPCA chief inspector Mick Pecic said he would investigate whether there were any breaches of animal welfare laws, which carry a maximum $30,000 fine or a year's jail.

"Generally there should always be a warm environment provided and someone there on hand to make sure everything goes OK," Mr Pecic said.

Upset dog squad officers reached into their own pockets for electric blankets and placed feeding tubes down the throats of the pups but within days only one of six was alive.

It is understood Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson's partner Dr Glenda Adkins, honorary patron of the dog squad, and officers were furious over the deaths of the animals.

Dr Adkins yesterday said in a statement she was "deeply saddened by the tragic deaths".

"I am confident that the members of the puppy breeding program and the vet who were in attendance throughout, did everything they possibly could to try and save these puppies. Absolutely no blame should be apportioned to these people," she said.

Even after the deaths, the QPS is accused of ignoring several requests from officers for a $700 heated whelping box for kennels, where police have bred their own dogs since 2008.

Vets said heating pads available for as little as $50 may also have saved the dogs, which are valued at $70,000 when fully trained.

An internal police review was launched as word spread of the death of the pups inside the Oxley kennels' concrete "puppy development wing".

The QPS sought to blame other factors when quizzed during the review and said the pups' mother, Freya, was inexperienced and had abandoned her offspring to starve, sources told The Sunday Mail.

But vet Paul Henry, called in to try to save the pups, confirmed they died after being exposed to the cold at the poorly heated police kennels.

"A cold snap came through. The staff were inadequately provided with facilities to keep them warm," said Mr Henry, who has 40 years' experience and is the consulting vet for the police service and air force.

"They bought some electric blankets with their own money. Despite that, we had a few puppy deaths."

He added: "When puppies go like this they go very lethargic, they get weaker and they don't suckle.

"So they were probably not eating, but that wasn't the primary thing the thing was they were just cold."

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