STAFF at Warrington Animal Welfare say they are still receiving unwanted pets that were given as Christmas presents - nearly three months after the festive season.

Volunteers at the welfare charity's Penketh kennels are struggling to look after 13 rejected puppies.

Each puppy is the victim of its own sad little Christmas story. But the saddest tale kennel staff have heard this year is little Zack's.

Zack, a tiny black puppy, was brought in by a bus driver. Lynn Raylor, who boards the puppies at her kennels near Fiddler's Ferry power station, said: "The driver noticed the little girl and her dog on his bus. She was crying, and people were asking her what was wrong. She said that her mother had told her to get rid of the dog."

The driver took the puppy off the girl and brought it to the kennels. Volunteers are now desperately looking for homes for Zack and the other dogs in their care.

Lynn added: "We have had another couple of puppies in for a few weeks now. An unmarried mother who is out at work all day had bought them for her children, but as they got bigger she found she couldn't cope."

In nearly every case the Animal Welfare group has to pick up the pieces after a family have made the mistake of thinking they can cope with a dog. "They don't think it through," she said.

"There is a huge expense involved, and a dog will take up a lot of your time. All the dogs aged under two years old we have here have similar stories."

If you fill you can offer one of the puppies a loving home, contact the kennels on 0151 423 3346, or Animal Welfare Organiser Joan Rimmer on 01565 634959.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.