And in sweltering heat!

Puppy mafia crammed 6 dachshund puppies into the trunk of a car

One of the rescued dachshund puppies, who is now being lovingly cared for at the animal shelter in Bruck an der Leitha(Bild: Tierheim Bruck an der Leitha)

Six puppies were to be smuggled across the border to Lower Austria in sweltering heat. Thanks to an attentive customs officer, however, the puppy mafia's "smuggling trip" was discovered.

Animal drama with a happy ending: local officials caught heartless puppy smugglers at the Hungarian border. As has only now become known, an attentive customs officer had become suspicious at the end of June when a driver from Romania tried to enter the country in a Mercedes Sprinter. And the woman proved to have the right nose: Six puppies were discovered in the trunk of the van during the inspection!

Puppies only six weeks old
"The six-week-old dachshund puppies were locked in the van in the sweltering heat and were in a very poor condition," it says. The officer immediately alerted the official veterinarian from Bruck an der Leitha and the animals were taken to a veterinary clinic in Parndorf, Burgenland.

The cute sextet, which was to be transported from Romania to France, has since been taken to the animal shelter in Bruck. Puppies may only be separated from their mother after eight weeks and transportation is prohibited until they are 15 weeks old. The smuggler was reported to the police.