Neighbors rescue nine abandoned puppies in Nedrow, investigators seek owner

Nine puppies are alive and getting care after a disturbing abandonment in Nedrow turned into a neighborhood rescue effort. The dogs were left along a dead-end stretch of Lions Den Road and, according to CNY Central, spent about three days there before they were safely captured and taken to the CNY SPCA.

The rescue began when Samantha Peck saw a pickup truck driving the wrong way near her home Friday night. Soon after, puppies started running into her yard, and Peck and her husband realized something was terribly wrong. Peck said the animals looked malnourished and neglected, with visible ribs, fleas, ticks and scabs on some of them.

From there, Peck, her husband and nearby residents kept the puppies alive at the end of the road. They set up a makeshift shelter and returned again and again with food, water, blankets and hay until the animals could be collected. One puppy, now named Lucy, appeared injured and may have been thrown from the truck, and Peck has decided to keep that dog herself.

The remaining puppies, about five months old, were transferred to the CNY SPCA, where staff said they arrived underweight and dealing with parasites. The shelter said the puppies all appear to be related and are now receiving deworming treatment, vaccinations and carefully monitored feeding as they recover. Danielle Basciano of the CNY SPCA said the dogs were very scared and still nervous, and she said abandonment cases are becoming more common across Central New York.

Investigators are still trying to identify whoever dumped the puppies. The Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office said there were no specific leads, and investigators are asking for tips about a newer dark-colored four-door pickup truck, possibly with a light bar across the windshield. The case has also sharpened attention on the gap between animal cruelty and animal protection laws, which Basciano said often do not go far enough to hold offenders accountable.

The CNY SPCA says it has been part of the community for more than 130 years, with a mission centered on sheltering, adoption, education and enforcement of animal welfare laws. For anyone who sees an abandonment case like this, the route forward is clear: report it to investigators, and if a shelter needs help, support it through adoption, fostering or donations so the next litter does not spend days waiting at the side of a road.