xxx...... So what happened to this little girl?

She grew into this:

Meet Kaya, a handsome nine-year-old German Shepherd cross. She has been settled happily with a family in Vledder (in the Netherlands) since early 2004, and goes everwhere with them, holidays included. But life for Kaya might have been very different ...

In December 2003, PAWS received a call from two very distressed German ladies - workers on a construction site near Palomares were preparing to pour cement down a hole in the foundations of a new building. But a mother and her four pups were hiding in the hole. The ladies were frantic. Could PAWS help?

PAWS did. An emergency rescue team rushed to the site, persuaded the builders to hold off long enough for the dog and her pups to be patiently coaxed out, and they were all taken into PAWS' care. One of them was given the name Laila, and was fostered by Glennis, a long-term PAWS volunteer who had been one of the team of rescuers. But there was a problem - Glennis was due to move from El Pinar some distance up country in January.

So PAWS Holland got to work and a home was found for little Laila with a Dutch family. On 27th January 2004 Laila flew to Holland under the care of a PAWS supporter, and was handed over at Schipol airport.

The new owner Marcel Anneese, re-named Laila KAYA. Marcel writes: "Kaya was 2-3 months old when we adopted her. She was very lively as a pup and sometimes we had to slow her down for her own good when playing, just to make sure she didn't go beyond her own limits.

She's still very healthy and full of life, as you can see. She's a great tracker, and we think she has some greyhound in her. The real problem is that she has random epileptic attacks - we don't know what causes these, but we have ampoules that we can give her when she has one to control the symptoms. But she's so friendly with everyone, just a really nice dog."

Laila-Kaya's story is just one of hundreds among the animals PAWS has rescued and re-homed. It took a lot of people in the chain to take her from a hole in the ground - which might have become a coffin - to the comfortable, secure and loving existence she has now enjoyed for many years. It took a willingness for people to turn out at short notice, the skilled attention of a local vet, Inka Labsch, and a whole supportive network to find and transport her to a new home.

But PAWS believes that every single animal rescued is worth every bit of time and trouble spent on the process. There are so many success stories which remain untold but are equally remarkable. This is just what PAWS does, and why we exist.

Our grateful thanks to Marcel and family in the Netherlands for completing to story for us.