Two Dogs and A Puppy Found Dumped With The Trash In Waterford

Waterford East Lyme Animal Shelter is filling up fast with abandoned animals. 

At around noon on July 12, someone found a pet carrier with two adults dogs (one male, one female) and a male puppy left next to a dumpster at a condo complex on 310 Boston Post Road in Waterford. 

"Luckily someone noticed them, picked them up and brought them here," said Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control Officer Robert Yuchniuk. 

On July 11, two small dogs (one male, one female) were found running along Route 85 in Waterford. Again, they were lucky someone found them before they were run over or fell prey to coyotes. 

"No one's come looking for them, so I have to assume they were abandoned too," said Yuchniuk. 

Then there's a kitten who was left behind by a family that was evicted from an apartment in Waterford. "It took us a while to catch her because she was skittish," said Yuchniuk, adding that the neighbors helped. 

There's No Excuse For Abandoning An Animal

Abandoning animals is a violation of animal cruelty laws but, Yuchniuk said, it's often not in the animal's best interest to bring charges against the people who have abandoned them. 
 
"The problem is if I arrest someone, I have to hold the animal as evidence," he said. That means the animal has to stay at the shelter for months and, after all that, the New London Court is so busy that most of the time the cases are thrown out.  

As an animal lover, Yuchniuk would rather see these abandoned pets find a loving home as quickly as possible. 

Having said that, Yuchniuk emphasizes that there is no justification for abandoning an animal. If people can no longer keep an animal for whatever reason, they can contact the Humane Society or bring the pet to a shelter such as the Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control. 

"Bring them somewhere where they will have a chance!" he said. 

If you are interested in providing a permanent home for any of these abandoned animals, the five dogs will be available for adoption on July 21. Yuchniuk has to post an advertisement to try to locate the owners and allow for eight days to give someone a chance to claim them. There's always the possibility that the three dogs were stolen from the owner, he noted, and that the other two got loose by accident. 

Yuchniuk said he's already had about 60 phone calls from people seeking more information since posting on Facebook about the three dogs found in the crate. However, he said, he has no more information to give.   

"We can guess about breed and age, but it's all guesses," he said. "These are dogs that we found and we don't know more about them."

So if you're interested, please don't call. "Just come down here and meet the dogs," he said. 

If you're ready to adopt an animal right now, there are two pit bulls, Duchess and Shadow, who are available for adoption today. Both dogs "are really nice," said Yuchniuk. "Good with people, other dogs, and cats."