Thanks to a good Samaritan’s quick thinking, four dogs in San Antonio, Texas are on to better lives.
They were dumped in a vacant lot by a woman who no longer wanted them. The woman lured them out of the car without leaving food or water, but she didn’t anticipate her act to be caught on video. The good Samaritan witnessed the scene and the resulting video later made it to social media. Since then, it’s gone viral, and it’s helped the four victims of illegal animal dumping find their way to safety.
Source: Abandoning Dogs by ViralHog
The video shows the woman coaxing four dogs out of the vehicle while a second person is in the driver’s seat. The person recording the video is heard telling the woman to drop the dogs off at Animal Care Services instead of abandoning them. She explains how surrending stray animals to the shelter is free, and if she chooses to dump them, she could face up to a $500 fine per dog.
Despite asking for the ACS address, the woman with the dogs shows no interest in following the advice. When the dogs are outside the car confused and obviously nervous, she gets back into the passenger seat, slams the door, and the car speeds away.
Catching the crime on camera was the first step, but the good Samaritan knew someone needed to help the heartlessly abandoned dogs. According to ACS, the witness went on to call 311 (a non-emergency hotline) and also left a message with the shelter. Thanks to her actions, a team of animal care officers was able to make it to the scene and safely bring in three of the four dogs.
https://www.facebook.com/SanAntonioACS/posts/10156770721872573
They were working on finding a way to bring in the fourth dog when the power of social media lead to an unexpected turn of events. The video was shared thousands of times and featured on a number of media outlets. Eventually, the woman who dumped the dogs decided to turn herself in. She returned to the vacant lot to collect the fourth dog and dropped it off at ACS.
With the suspect identified, ACS is still working on the open investigation. Abandoning dogs is considered a class A misdemeanor in Texas, and the woman could potentially face charges for each of the dogs she left behind.
Meanwhile, the dogs are making the most of their heartbreaking situation. Two have already been adopted into new families, and two are in need of temporary foster homes. Their stories would be much different if it wasn’t for a concerned animal lover and the hard work from ACS.
If you’d like to give the two remaining dogs room in your home without fear of being abandoned, contact ACS at acsrescue-foster@sanantionio.gov.
h/t: KSAT
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
