FWACC looking for person who abandoned puppies at shelter

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control is hoping the public can help in finding whoever is responsible for leaving a container of puppies outside its shelter in freezing temperatures.

FWACC says that it happened Wednesday morning and the person who did it seemingly concealed their identity. A social media post says the person was driving a white or silver Chevy truck that pulled in and backed out. Representatives think this was so the cameras couldn’t catch the license plate. Puppies in the box jumped out during the hour and a half it was unattended. FWACC believes they got them all but want to be sure.

They also remind residents that abandoning animals at its facility is illegal.

Despite the temperatures, being too young to be away from their mother, and being left alone, representatives say that all the puppies seem to be fine.

The post reads:

This morning at 7:40 am when one of our staff members was coming into work, she noticed a cardboard box in front of our adoption center entrance. Inside of the box was a litter of 10 puppies that are roughly 6-7 weeks old; too young to be away from their mom. She immediately brought them inside to our triage area so our medical staff could evaluate them. Thankfully, besides being cold, they were all okay and immediately started eating and drinking water.

Upon checking the surveillance cameras, we found out that the puppies were dropped off at 6:10 am by a white or silver Chevy truck that pulled in and backed all the way out of the parking lot, likely so we could not see the license plate. Since the pups were not properly contained in a crate, it only took about 8 minutes for the puppies to jump out of the cardboard box and run around freely. They found their way back into the box before they were found about an hour later and brought inside.

We are asking the public if anyone recognizes this truck or knows anything about these puppies because we need to know how many puppies were originally in the box. Our staff members did a wider search to check the ditches, drains, etc. and did not find anymore puppies, but it is still possible some may have wandered off. If you have any information, please call our dispatchers at (260) 427-1244 option 1. Your information will remain confidential.

Abandoning animals at our building is illegal and people that perform this act will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if we have the information to move forward. It can also be very dangerous, especially in extreme weather like this unfortunate situation. These puppies are fortunate they did not pass away from hypothermia while outside for over an hour.

If you are in need of rehoming or surrendering assistance, we are always here to help without judgement. We have a surrender process that you can read about on our website along with where to find resources: https://www.cityoffortwayne.org/service.html
These puppies are going into foster homes until they are big enough to be put into our adoption program.