Puppies rescued beside trash bin

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By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)

Originally published 02:02 p.m., March 4, 2008
Updated 02:02 p.m., March 4, 2008

Photo by Bobbi Mlynar

Five abandoned puppies huddled in a warm box at the Emporia school district office. The sixth puppy, a chocolate-colored female, had been taken home earlier by district employee Carolyn Koch.

Alex Johnson thought he heard the mewling of a trapped cat when he drove into the USD 253 parking lot Monday morning. He followed the sound to a Dumpster at the Salvation Army Thrift Store adjacent to the lot and, instead of a cat, found a puppy — still with its eyes closed — whimpering in the cold.

The puppy was not alone; he had crawled away from five siblings that still lay in a burlap bag next to the Dumpster.

Photo by Bobbi Mlynar

Alex Johnson uses a tiny bottle to feed one of six abandoned puppies he found Monday morning when he arrived at the school district’s central office.

“I couldn’t have found them if one of them hadn’t crawled out of the sack,” said Johnson, who is a technology specialist with the school district.

The puppies likely were destined to starve or succumb to the cold if they were left outside.

“I couldn’t have that, and I didn’t want to just leave them out there,” he said.

Johnson brought the puppies inside, put them in a box lined with a blanket and brought in bottles of Similac to feed them.

Photo by Bobbi Mlynar

A days-old puppy sips Similac from a bottle held by Alex Johnson, who found the pup and its 5 siblings in a burlap bag thrown down by a Dumpster at the Salvation Army.

Four of the pups are males and two are females; four are black and two are chocolate, and all appear to be predominantly Labrador retriever.

One of them, a female, went home with Carolyn Koch, literary projects coordinator, and Johnson at mid-morning was looking for others willing to make the same commitment.

He enlisted help from the Dorsey Animal Clinic, which took responsibility for feeding the puppies and for finding foster or adoptive homes.

By afternoon, with help from volunteers from the H. Dale Buck Animal Welfare Fund, all of the abandoned dogs had been taken to private homes, where they will stay at least until they’re ready for adoption.