'Give them all to me!' This Morning viewers vow to adopt 'adorable' puppies from Welsh animal shelter which lost a dog to the cold after its roof was destroyed by Storm Arwen
This Morning viewers have become besotted with a set of puppies from a Welsh shelter which is looking for funds after being badly hit by Storm Arwen.
Appearing on the ITV show today, the tiny dogs were from the Many Tears animal shelter near Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
The rescue centre was appealing for donations after the storm 'ripped its roof to pieces', caused a power outage and resulted in the tragic death of one puppy, who became too cold and was unable to be saved.
Owner Sylvia Van Atta, 62, who owns the shelter with her husband Bill, sent out a plea for help to repair their building while speaking with the programme's vet Dr Scott at the centre.
He brought attention to the litters of puppies waiting for a loving home, with Sylvia revealing she has received animals who were abandoned during the pandemic - and viewers quickly became besotted with the sleeping puppies.
Dr Scott, pictured. visited the Many Tears animal shelter near Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire in Wales. The shelter was badly hit by Storm Arwen last week, which tore its roof off and cost the life of one puppy
A video showed the extent of the damage the shelter sustained during Storm Arwen, pictured, with owner Sylvia Van Atta, 62, lamenting it broke her heart
Sylvia showed the aftermaths of Storm Arwen in a video, and said: 'It's been the most terrible night ever. We've had no electricity, and the most terrible winds have ripped our roof to pieces,
'The shelter we've spent so long building has been wrecked, this is some of the sheets of metal that were flying around last night,' she said, showing benches upside-down and said sheets of metal that were lying on the floor. 'It was terrifying and dreadful it's really hard to keep going, really, really hard,' she went on. 'It's a loss for the animals and it's breaking my heart. This is going to cost thousands.'
Dr Scott travelled to the shelter, where he was reporting from, and said: 'The whole country has been battered by Storm Arwen, strong gust of wind up to 90mph, tearing roofs off, bringing down power lines, thousands of people are still waiting to have their electricity put back on.'
But he added the storm had caused great suffering to animals as well. Sylvia gave more insight into what Arwen cost the shelter.
Viewers were touched by the shelter's story and praised the great work it does. Some also swooned over the adorable puppies in its care
'Trees came down, roofs came off and flew across and damaged other things as they went,' she said.
'A mum and her pups had a terrible time because we had no electricity. A puppy died because it got too cold, we had no way of heating them up,' she added. 'And it raged all night and part of the morning, so it was not a two-hour thing, it went on and on and on.'
Sylvia revealed her shelter sustained thousands of pounds worth of damage but said a team has already stepped in to help at a lesser cost.
The shelter normally costs £75,000 to run a month, to cover wages, and relies on the help of thousands of support workers and volunteers, Scott revealed.
During his visit, viewers were introduced to Libby, a female dog who got injured in the storm and can no longer feed her puppies.
Sylvia has been looking after puppies, pictured, who had a 'terrible time' during the storm and need to be bottle fed every two hours
Holding a tiny puppy, pictured, Dr Scott said the shelter needed donations to repair the damage
Sylvia explained it was one of Libby's pups who died during the storm, and said the other puppies had to be bottle fed every two hours, which had been challenging for the team.
Another dog was filmed with her puppies and Sylvia revealed she had been bred during Covid-19 by a man who hoped to make money by selling puppies.
'They knew they could make a lot of money and they decided to breed her, they did breed her, she's had about ten puppies.
'Somebody told them the market dropped down on puppies and they wouldn't be able to be sold and not sold over Christmas because they were too young anyway, so he didn't want them and so he gave them to us, she's too young to have been bred anyways,' Sylvia said, holding two of the dog's puppies.
Dr Scott said he was surprised to see that people were returning puppies to shelters.
Sylvia, right, told Dr Scott it would cost thousands of pounds to keep the centre afloat after Storm Arwen
'People have got a dog either over Covid thinking they could give it time, but then they've being offered a job or better job and decided money is more important than the dog they took on,' Sylvia said.
'And it should have been for life, like a marriage, not just for Covid or Christmas, it's forever' she added.
She said there are lots of things people can do to help Many Tears recover from the storm, including becoming home checkers. But she admitted 'cold hard cash' would really help the centre stay afloat.
Viewers were touched by Sylvia's plea, and swooned over the adorable puppies in her care. 'Those puppies, give them all to me,' one said.
'Awww they are doing a wonderful job,' another said, while one person wrote on Twitter: 'Many Tears is a wonderful dog rescue.' 'Without sounding like Cruella De Vil, I want those puppies,' one joked.
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