A very nervous dog who was found abandoned in a dog carrier hanging from a door has been rescued and is looking for a foster home. A worker at a pet adoption service in Oklahoma said he discovered the black bag tied to the building’s front door handle as he arrived to work over the Fourth of July weekend.
Steve Lockard, who works at the animal center, was deeply saddened when he discovered a “very nervous” chihuahua inside the carrier. Staff members who looked after the dog say they found no owner in the vicinity, nor any explanation as to why the pet was abandoned.
“She was very nervous, but she seemed physically healthy and sweet-natured,” Lockard told the Dodo. “This wasn’t the first time I have arrived [at] the adoption center to find animals waiting there, so I can’t say I was super surprised.”
He went on: “I was happy to get her in and fed and watered, so I was mostly just thinking about getting the little dog comfortable.”
Eventually, the helper found a damp piece of paper inside the carrier, stating that the dog’s name is Maris, and asking her rescuer to “find her a good home.”
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Because the Oklahoma Humane Society is not a shelter, it cannot care for the little dog long-term.
Like other rescues in the neighborhood, it is experiencing a canine influenza outbreak and is therefore relying on the local community to care for Maris.
Shortly after Maris was found, the pet adoption service posted a picture of the dog to Facebook to address the issue of pet homelessness currently facing the area.
Roshelle Anders, marketing manager at the Oklahoma Humane Society told the Dodo: “We didn’t post the photo to specifically call out the people who left the pet, but rather to bring attention to a greater problem facing our community.”
In the state of Oklahoma, animal abandonment is considered to be a misdemeanor – yet it may still warrant up to $500 and a year in jail, Muskogee Attorney reports.
Animal cruelty in Oklahoma, on the other hand, is “a felony and could result in imprisonment in the country jail for one year, a state penitentiary for five years, or a fine of $5,000”, according to the website.
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