Riverside County

Burned Puppy With Part of Her Tail Cut Off Found in a Coachella Trash Bin

The dog named Hope remains in intensive care at a nonprofit animal rescue agency

What to Know

  • The dog, just a few weeks old, was found May 5 in a trash bin at a Coachella shopping center
  • The Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation of Sherman Oaks is offering a reward for information in the animal abuse case
  • The case marks the second time in as many months that puppies have been found discarded in the Riverside County community

A San Fernando Valley animal rescue agency is offering a $10,000 reward in the case of a severely abused puppy found in a Riverside County trash bin.

The weeks-old dog suffered what appeared to be burns and part of her tail had been cut off, according to the Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation of Sherman Oaks. A person looking through a shopping center trash bin May 5 in the 49000 block of Harrison Street in Coachella found the puppy in a plastic bag.

A weeks-old puppy is recovering at an animal rescue center after she was discovered in a shopping center trash bin. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News at 11 a.m. on Thursday May 9, 2019.

The case marks the second time in as many months that puppies have been found discarded in a Coachella sanitation bin. Seven bagged puppies were tossed into a recycling bin behind a Napa Auto Parts store at 49251 Grapefruit Blvd. on April 18. A woman was arrested April 22 as part of that animal abuse investigation.

In the most recent case, the person who found the injured puppy brought the animal to a store owner who contacted authorities, according to a statement from the Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation, which offered the reward. The dog, who cannot walk due to her injuries, is in intensive care on 24-hour monitoring, the statement said. 

"I have no clue who would do something so atrocious," said Alejandra Espinoza Zazueta, whose mother helped recover the puppy. "It's unfair, and it's really bad that people are capable of doing this." 

Zazueta said her mother and two other people found the dog around 1 p.m. Sunday in a bin in front of a jewelry store. She tried to clean the dog's wounds and make her comfortable, the contacted the animal rescue agency, she said.

A site has been set up for donations.

Hope from Animal Hope Wellness on Vimeo.

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