GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Gaston County woman has been arrested and charged with abandonment after police say she left several puppies outside a shuttered animal shelter.
Animal Care and Enforcement said Heather Knight was caught on video at their old facility in Dallas. They say she left the puppies in a box underneath a sign that read “animal abandonment is a crime.”
The facility has been closed for six years, but officials say animals are often dropped off there and at their current shelter in Gastonia.
Police were able to track Knight down using social media.
“Their excuse was basically that they just couldn’t afford to feed mom, and they knew they wouldn’t be able to feed more puppies,” Capt. Kyle Yancy with the Gastonia Police Department said.
Thankfully, workers with parks and recreation found the dogs soon after they were abandoned in the cold. Yancy said the puppies may not have survived if those workers hadn’t intervened when they did.
In a heartwarming turn of events, the dogs’ mother, Roxy, was reunited with her eight babies. She’ll be allowed to nurse them until they are ready to go to a rescue and find new homes.
“Just don’t leave them somewhere in hopes that they survive or someone comes along and picks them up,” Yancy said.
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