NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — An abandoned German shepherd and her puppies were rescued from a storm drain on Thursday.
The Nashville Humane Society said one of their workers was heading inside the shelter when she noticed what appeared to be makeshift bowls near the fence. Upon approaching, she realized there was a scared German shepherd pacing around the area, protecting her puppies.
After calling Metro Animal Care and Control, they were able to lure the mother and one of the puppies inside their fence line, however, two of the puppies were still inside the storm drain.
It took ten people, including those from NDOT four hours to get the puppies from the drain.
Laura Baker, Director of Nashville Humane Association was one of the people to put on a hazmat suit and enter the sewer.
"There were a couple of us who went down in the drains. The dogs were extremely fearful," said Baker. "So, it took kind of a team effort to push them out of the culvert. As soon as we pushed them out of the culvert we were able to get them leashed up and seen by a vet."
The adult dog seems to be in good health, but all three of her puppies are in bad shape.
"They have really blistery cracked skin and are in poor condition. So, they're going to take a couple of weeks for some TLC and then they will be available for adoption," said Baker.
The people at the humane association said this was handled the wrong way by whoever dropped the dogs off.
"We assume that a loving owner fell upon hard times, did not want to ask for help and just felt like the right thing was to abandon them. Which is never the right thing," she said. Both the humane association and MACC will take in pets as a last resort for desperate owners. However, there are a lot of resources to help people keep their pets to try first.
Nashville Humane said they are taking donations to their emergency medical fund to help with their care.
