Puppies Left for Dead in Cathedral City

By Adrianna Weingold

CREATED Jul. 1, 2012

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  • Cathedral City Police rescued puppies trapped in a box in the open desert Saturday night. Now they're searching for who abandoned the pups. Video by kmir6.com

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CATHEDRAL CITY-- Seven puppies were found trapped in a closed box in Cathedral City Saturday night. An officer from Cathedral City police was on routine patrol on San El Jay Drive and 30th Avenue when he heard whimpering coming from an oleander bush. Upon further inspection he discovered a box of puppies stuffed in the brush like garbage.

 
"It's all desert area," said Sgt. Scott Sharpe from the Cathedral City Police Department. "It's a dead end road and apparently the way it was found, someone attempted to conceal the puppies in an oleander bush and they were in an enclosed box so someone just abandoned them and basically left them there to die."
 
Unfortunately for three of the puppies, the heat, starvation and dehydration got the best of them. 
 
"We're not sure how long they had been there, but the temperatures even at night were in the 80's and if they were there during the day the temperatures were hovering around 108 yesterday. That's totally inhumane," Sgt. Sharpe said. "There was no water, no food, and obviously it was enough that three of the puppies died. We will pursue felony charges for animal cruelty if we catch who put those puppies out there."
 
The person responsible could face up to three years in jail, and will never be allowed to own a pet again. The surviving puppies are being cared for by a police officer and will get a full check up in the coming week.
 
If you have any information about who left those puppies or if you're interested in adopting one of them you can call Cathedral City Police or Riverside County Animal Services. 
 
--Adrianna Weingold
aweingold@kmir6.com