LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – An update on the two-week-old puppies thrown in a dumpster at an apartment complex near Charleston Blvd. and Jones Blvd.
They’re in the care of The Animal Foundation, and now we’re getting an exclusive look at their rescue.
Rescuers describe what they saw after the puppies who are barely old enough to open their eyes are thrown away like trash.
“I hear something, but the dumpsters, like started making noise,” says maintenance worker, Sergio Ramirez said. “I was close to the dumpsters, and I hear the puppies start crying.”
Another rescuer, Lea Arneson has a message for the person who did this.
“They have no heart, they have no soul. He deserves everything coming to him,” Arneson said.
Court records show Michael Grindrod is facing five counts of willful and malicious torturing or maiming of an animal.
A conviction on a single charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison and as much as five thousand dollars in fines, plus restitution.
The Animal Foundation says the puppies were found in a trash bag with an unknown cleaning product.
“This smell like bleach, really strong bleach,” Ramirez said.
A strong smell of bleach, cutting through the smell of trash, as the puppies cry out for help.
The cruelty isn’t lost on rescuer, Lea Arneson.
“You always see it on the news or you see it on social media,” Arneson said. “I never thought I would actually experience it in person. It was traumatizing, in my opinion, just to see those little babies, their eyes weren’t even open. They’re freezing cold. They’re crying. One of them sucking on my finger because he was so hungry. And for someone to do something like that to these little babies is just, I have no words for that.“
So, what might make a person do this?
Animal Protection Services says workers showed up to the apartment complex after getting reports of a tenant getting evicted and allegedly putting puppies in a dumpster.
Arneson says, she made the call. “Because we had seen the puppies in his apartment, and they looked exactly like those puppies. He was in the process of getting evicted, and we just kind of put two and two together, and I knew it was him, so I called, made that call, and turned him in, because, you know, it’s the right thing to do,” Arneson said.
The puppies and their mother are currently recovering at The Animal Foundation. Staffers say ideally, the puppies will be moved to a foster home.
That’s because they’re highly susceptible to illness at this age.
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