Lilly Hogue pulled into the parking lot of Animal Aid of Tulsa’s thrift store on Sunday morning. The store was closed, but she was planning on doing some work in the back office. Instead, she was greeted by five terrified puppies.
The puppies were grouped
around a carrier, and Hogue quickly realized they’d been abandoned. After looking through the security camera footage, she discovered that the puppies had been dumped around 7 o’clock the night before, meaning they’d been alone in the parking lot for 15 hours. The carrier they were left in was much too small and being held shut with pipe cleaners. The puppies broke free from it within 15 minutes.
“They ran loose in the parking lot overnight and thankfully didn’t go too far or venture onto the main road,” Hogue told The Dodo. “I found them just after 10 a.m. the next morning. The carrier could have maybe held two puppies comfortably, and there were five in total.”
As soon as Hogue got out of the car, the puppies scattered, already scared. She was able to use a can of wet food to lure them over to her and safely secure them. The poor babies were just over 4 months old and were incredibly hungry and dehydrated.
“It took some time for all of the puppies to warm up to me,” Hogue said. “A few of them warmed up faster than the others, but after feeding them and making sure everyone was properly contained, they seemed to realize they were safe and settled in with me quickly after that.”
Hogue watched over the puppies closely over the next few days, wanting to make sure they hadn’t eaten anything dangerous while they were left unsupervised in the parking lot. The team at Animal Aid of Tulsa is incredibly small and was already stretched thin, but they came together to help the puppies as best they could.
The team decided to name the puppies after characters from "The Hunger Games," and went with Peeta, Effie, Rue, Primrose and Katniss.
“They are all so incredibly sweet and loving despite their circumstances, and everyone that’s met them from our team and the clinic staff just adores them,” Hogue said.
The puppies will soon be headed to another rescue that has more space and resources to care for them. Once they’ve fully settled and healed, they’ll be able to find loving forever homes and a second chance.
