It started with a heartbreaking sight along a remote dirt road in Texas.
Earlier this week, a Donna Fire Department chief and his wife were riding their bikes down the abandoned roadway when something unusual caught their eyes. There, all alone in that distant spot, they noticed a puppy on the loose.
But that wasn’t the only one.
The chief called his colleagues at the fire department for assistance with the one puppy they’d found, and soon Lieutenant Ruiz arrived at the scene. It was then that Ruiz noticed a laundry basket at the foot of an old street sign nearby.
Four more helpless puppies had been left there to fend for themselves, far from where anyone was likely to find them.
“It was sad, because they’re little babies, you know? Like little kids,” Ruiz told The Dodo. “They were left unattended. And you could tell they were hungry and they were cold. They were all whimpering once we picked them up.”
Thankfully, help had come in time.
Soon, all the puppies were loaded into the fire truck and brought back to the station for safekeeping.
“We pet them and gave them little cuddles,” Ruiz said. “They started falling asleep because it was warmer than outside.”
The firefighters later contacted staff at Dallas Dog Rescue Rehab Reform (Dallas DogRRR) — an organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating dogs in need. To them, the puppies’ discovery was an all-too-familiar occurrence.
“This is dumping. This is abandonment. This is why [a rescue group like ours] never gets a break,” Dallas DogRRR wrote in a post.
Knowing that the puppies had been abandoned and left to perish from hunger or exposure has sparked anger and frustration. Ruiz is glad to know they’re in good hands.
The puppies are all currently being cared for by volunteers from Dallas DogRRR.
“As you can see, they’re settling in, cuddling up, and doing exactly what puppies should be doing instead of fighting to survive on the side of a road,” Dallas DogRRR wrote in an update, sharing a much cozier image of the puppies.
Had it not been for the fire chief and his wife noticing the first puppy on that remote road, and Ruiz discovering the rest, the puppies may never have been found.
“They’re safe tonight because people showed up,” Dallas DogRRR wrote. “Now we keep showing up.”