Helen Woodward Animal Center Staff Surprised by Discovery of a Tiny Abandoned Puppy…
Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (Jan. 24, 2016) – In the early morning hours of Monday, January 11th, Helen Woodward Animal Center staff discovered a tiny puppy hidden within an overnight-crate assigned to an adult orphan dog named Bruce. With the cold evening air giving way to early morning sunshine, Center animal techs were busy setting Bruce up outside in his adoption enclosure. At the same time, a stranger had walked into the building to abandon the delicate pup, only weeks old, inside of Bruce’s crate. There was no note and no information about the bitty black puppy, still too young to feed itself without its mother’s milk. Only surveillance footage (see B-roll attached) revealed the mystery of how the pup had even arrived in the Center’s back lobby. Now named Piccolo (Italian for “small”), adoption staff are making some very big efforts to get the puppy back to health and ready for a happy new life.
At less than one pound, Piccolo was far too young to survive on her own and Center adoptions staff immediately placed her in an intensive care incubator to get her body heat back to where it needed to be. While her exam showed no emergency medical care was necessary, the tiny puppy was suffering the stress of being separated from her mother and seemed unsure of how to eat without her mother’s milk. Assisting Piccolo with learning how to eat formula and how to take water from a syringe to keep her hydrated has been the primary concern since her arrival.
“There was so much confusion about where she had come from,” stated Helen Woodward Animal Inventory Manager LaBeth Thompson. “Four of our staff members were checking around the building to see if Piccolo was one of ours and trying to figure out how she had ended up in Bruce’s crate. We have such a regular morning routine with feeding and caring for the pets and it was so unusual to find a puppy that no one was familiar with.”
Surveillance footage shows a blond woman pull up to the front lot in her car, get out while two other dogs wait inside the car, and carry the puppy inside. While the woman may have been attempting to get the puppy to an organization she knew would provide care, San Diego Law, Ordinance No. 9274, Sec. 62.673, makes it illegal for any individual to abandon an animal. In part, the law states, “No person shall abandon any domestic animal without care on any public or private property. Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
“We understand that whoever did this may have had good intentions,” explained Helen Woodward Animal Services Manager Ed Farrelly. “But leaving such a young puppy in a place we may not have found it for many hours is not a way to ensure this puppy’s health. Its body temperature could have dropped dangerously low and it could have been severely malnourished and dehydrated by the time we found it.”
Piccolo is currently under constant care and is even taken home each evening by Center vet technician Shea Halle, to monitor her health and well-being. The puppy is reported to show clear signs of missing her mom, snuggling and nuzzling into Halle’s neck, and trying to nurse “like a kitten.” One thing is certain, this tiny Piccolo will play a much happier song when she has a forever family of her very own.
