‘I am so heartbroken’: Puppy dies after being found abandoned in dumpster

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT/Gray News) – A puppy that was abandoned in a dumpster in Virginia sadly did not survive, according to a Richmond animal shelter.

Officials with the Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) said they are not seeking the person responsible.

“I am so heartbroken that it motivates me to fight our corner and try to find justice for that animal,” said Christie Chipps-Peters, the RACC director.

In a post made by RACC on Friday, the shelter said the dog was found in a dumpster in the 400 block of Westover Hills Boulevard around 5:40 p.m. She was soaking wet in a bag and wrapped in a T-shirt when they responded to the rescue call.

“He heard crying from inside, and she was in a Walmart plastic bag,” Chipps-Peters said.

RACC provided medical attention to the dog but later announced in another post that the puppy did not survive.

“The next day around noon they gave a call and they were like ‘You know what, something is really wrong with this puppy, we’re unable to stabilize her to the point where we feel like she’s suffering.’ And so we made the unfortunate decision to euthanize her,” she said.

Chipps-Peters said the shelter is taking the loss of Sapphire and turning it into a push to find the owner.

“We have a forensics team that has already come this morning to take a DNA sample from Sapphire, so we will bank that and once we find the person that’s responsible, it will help us in our investigation to prove that dog is their dog,” she said.

The shelter is also asking the community for help, asking anyone with information to contact them.

“Someone knows who this puppy belonged to. Someone has seen it. We were canvasing the neighborhood today, putting up flyers with the hopes that someone will see it and say something. And so, we have solved larger cases with less,” she said.

Chipps-Peters said these kinds of disturbing and violent situations are occurring more often, including one in May in which a 16-year-old boy was convicted of burning a cat alive.

“It just keeps getting worse and worse,” she said.

While there were no security cameras around, the director is confident they’ll find the person responsible for leaving little Sapphire to die.

“There’s 100 different options than to put a puppy in a plastic bag and put it in the trash. An animal isn’t disposable,” Chipps-Peters said.