Kai had been sold on Gumtree in 2024 (Scottish SPCA/PA
People from as far afield as the US have been offering to adopt a dog which was left at a railway station with a suitcase of his belongings.
The Scottish SPCA has been deluged with well over 100 calls from people offering a new home for shar-pei crossbreed Kai, who was abandoned at Ayr station in South Ayrshire in a tale similar to that of Paddington Bear.
He was discovered tied to a railing outside the building on Friday accompanied by the case containing items including a pillow, toy, food and a bowl.
His story has hit the headlines around the world, from the US to Hong Kong, and the charity has had calls from people in California and Tennessee offering to take him in.
However it hopes to rehome Kai in Scotland once he has had surgery to his eyelids, which are curled under meaning his eyelashes touch his eyeballs.
Kai, who is aged between two and three, is currently being cared for at the Scottish SPCA’s centre in Glasgow.
A spokeswoman for the charity said: “He needs surgery which is quite a common procedure. He won’t be able to leave till he has had that so he will be with us for the next three to four weeks.”
The pet was sold on the Gumtree website in 2024 and the charity is appealing for information to help trace whoever bought him.
Railway station staff looked after Kai until the Scottish SPCA arrived at the scene on Friday.
Alan Grant, a senior animal care assistant at the Glasgow centre, said: “It would certainly have been very distressing for him at the time he was abandoned.
“He has been tied up to a fence and watched his owners walk away and leave him, and that’s distressing for any dog, even if you just tie your dog up outside the shop and go into the shop, most dogs will panic so it must have been very, very distressing for him watching his owners walk away.
“He’s settled into the centre not bad and he seems very people-orientated, but it’s certainly not the right manner to leave any animal in.”
The charity said abandoning an animal is an offence under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2024 and anyone found guilty of doing so can expect to be banned from keeping animals for a fixed period or life.
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp…fers-new-home/