Eight pedigree puppies perish in shed blaze (From Free Press Series)

Eight pedigree puppies perish in shed blaze

EIGHT pedigree puppies died in a shed fire at a Pontypool house in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Owner Jerry Warman, said he was devastated after the week-old Labrador pups were killed in the blaze at 3.30am.

Their mother Teal, a four-year-old Labrador gun-dog, was also injured when melting plastic fell on her.

The dogs were being kept in a shed at the rear of the house in Leigh Road, Trevethin. Firefighters believe the fire was caused by a faulty heat lamp used to keep the pups warm. It ignited their paper bedding and soon destroyed the timber shed.

"It was like an inferno," said Mr Warman, 43. "I ran up the garden trying to put it out with the hose and buckets of water.

"Teal was badly burnt. She had melted plastic on her back and her face was all ripped up. It was a horrible sight."

Teal is under sedation at Fields veterinary centre in Stow Hill, Newport, where Mr Warman's wife Sian works as a veterinary nurse.

It is not yet known if she will survive.

Mr Warman said: "We cannot understand it. The heater has been on all week - why did it burn last night?

"We have been telling everyone how well the pups were doing all week and then this happened."

The couples' other two dogs, Chip and Brock, a pedigree Labrador and the father of the puppies, were unharmed.