Dog found with a tag on her collar pleading for help

Animal rescuers are searching for the owners of a dog found wandering the streets with a tag on her collar pleading for help.

Roxy the Jack Russell terrier was handed in to the Auckland SPCA when a passerby found her running around shops near Uxbridge in Howick earlier this week.

A heartbreaking note was scrawled in barely-legible handwriting across a name tag attached to her green collar.

‘Hi my name is Roxy. My owner can’t look after me. Can you?’ it read.

Volunteers caring for the little white dog appealed online for information about her.

‘We are reaching out in the hope that someone recognises Roxy and can tell us more about her. All information we receive will be treated as confidential,’ SPCA said.

The shelter said abandoning an animal like Roxy was an offence under New Zealand’s Animal Welfare Act 1999 and there were other options available.

‘We understand that circumstances can change for pet owners, and that sometimes families are in a position where they genuinely can’t care for their animals anymore,’ it said.

‘We want people to know that they should never feel like their only resort is abandoning an animal – there is always help and other avenues to take.’

A heartbreaking note was scrawled in barely-legible handwriting across a name tag attached to her green collar reading: ‘My owner can’t look after me. Can you?’

However, it turned out Roxy may not have been abandoned after all and her plight could be a sick joke by a neighbour.

‘Apparently the owner loves her and has been missing her and had no idea about name tag,’ an Auckland resident commented on SPCA’s post.

‘I think someone has played a very cruel prank on both the owner and poor Roxy. From what I understand the owner is getting in touch with SPCA about getting Roxy back where she belongs.’

If Roxy’s owners don’t turn up it appeared she would find a home very quickly as numerous animal lovers offered to adopt her.