Miss Elsa is a medium sized Lurcher who has yet to have any visitors to meet her at Wicklow Animal Welfare.
Brooke and her four puppies were taken into care by Wicklow Animal Welfare on Monday.
Collie-whippet cross Brooke and her four pups.
Having taken in 500 abandoned and unwanted dogs throughout 2025, Fiona Gammell of Wicklow Animal Welfare was hoping for an easy start to the New Year.
However, those hopes proved premature as Fiona rescued six dogs on New Year’s Eve, followed by a collie-whippet cross and her four puppies only five days later.
“We must keep trying even though it’s totally disheartening,” she said on Tuesday. “We try so hard, but it just never seems to be enough.
“Each New Year you try to start on a positive note, and you think you have broken the back of it and that things have calmed down, only to be inundated with unwanted dogs at the start of the year again. Hope springs eternal at the start of the year, but sadly it never lasts long.”
The six dogs brought into care by Wicklow Animal Welfare on New Year’s Eve included a two-year-old whippet and a four-month old whippet pup with a broken leg, who both came from Wicklow town.
On Monday this week, Fiona rescued a collie-whippet cross she named Brooke and her four puppies.
She said: “We were actually delighted to get the bitch because usually they are kept by the owner for breeding and we only get the pups. The puppies consist of three females and one male, which is also unusual in that usually the female pups are kept as well for breeding purposes. We have neutered Brooke and her pups so Brooke will never have puppies again, and nor will her pups.”
Fiona also feels that exorbitant vet fees are only adding to the problem.
“We ran a neutering scheme for XL bully dogs and had around 115 dogs neutered through the scheme. You had some veterinary practises in Dublin charging up to €900, which was very opportunistic because they knew people were under pressure with the new legislation coming into place. Our own vet only charged us €150, so there is a very noticeable difference.”
Fiona has found herself so busy she has been forced to take on an additional part-time staff member at Wicklow Animal Welfare to help Fiona with the work-load.
“The government needs to be doing more to help with the situation, which only seems to be worsening,” said Fiona. “There certainly isn’t any sign of things slowing down. If it wasn’t for animal rescues doing what they do then you wouldn’t be able to drive the roads without it being littered with dead dogs and cats.”