The horrifying treatment that some people show animals is beyond comprehension. Luckily for this group of nine puppies, though, someone found them in time to rescue them—and the police are hoping to catch whoever it was that left them in the state they were found.
The San Diego Humane Society set off a firestorm of horrified reactions on Twitter on February 1st when they shared pictures of two of a group of nine sweet-faced puppies that had been abandoned at a city park.
“We are looking for information to identify the person responsible for abandoning nine puppies,” they tweeted, explaining the heartbreaking conditions they found the pups in.
All nine puppies had been placed in a plastic bag, which was then sealed shut with duct tape and abandoned at Kit Carson Park in Escondido, about 30 miles northeast of downtown San Diego.
Whoever had left the tiny pups had, at the very least, poked some air holes in the bag, which prevented their suffocation before someone came along and found them. But the tiny, confined space was likely a terrifying place to be trapped—and as Officer Serena Boney of the San Diego Police pointed out, the weather conditions could have created a massive problem to go along with their lack of food and water.
“Had they been out there too long in the cold, they absolutely could have frozen to death,” she said. “Who knows when they were last fed. They were all very hungry. They were trying to nurse on the towels that we were wiping them down with.”
It’s absolutely gut-wrenching to try to figure out how long the nine puppies, who are believed to be some kind of shar pei mixes, had been left alone to fend for themselves. Luckily, though, they’re now in good hands—and after being fed and cared for they can hopefully head to forever homes while law enforcement tries to track down their abusers.
Social media was understandably full of people concerned about the pups, but some also stopped to make sure that the officers who helped find them and care for them were thanked for their hard work as well.
“Thank you for finding them in time. God helped you save their lives. Thank you isn’t enough for you hard work and dedication,” one user wrote.
