Dogs abandoned in storm chase SUV into street, video shows. Then their luck changed
A driver abandoned four dogs near a road and almost ran over them, a South Carolina animal shelter said.
“It’s just completely unacceptable to leave animals like that just running in the middle of the street to get hit,” Aldwin Roman, vice president and chief operating officer for the Charleston Animal Society, said in a video shared with McClatchy News. “That’s not helping. That’s not saving the animal.”
But the dogs’ luck quickly turned around. Surveillance footage shows animal society workers racing to round up the dogs with “traffic speeding by.” They were brought into the safety of the shelter, marking the start of their next chapter.
“The dogs were soaking wet, frightened and confused,” the shelter wrote March 13 in a Facebook post. “We named the quartet after the brave animal society staff who ran into oncoming traffic to save them.”
The shelter said the dogs — Amanda, Cameron, Jodi and Nikki — were abandoned during a storm early March 9. The National Weather Service reported that nearby downtown Charleston received 3.63 inches of rain, breaking a daily record of 1.43 inches.
The animal organization said an unidentified woman drove up to its gates, let the four dogs out of her SUV and left them outside. The two adult dogs reportedly were chained together at the time.
“As she attempted to drive away, the two adult dogs and two puppies came running after her vehicle circling the car and were almost run over,” the shelter wrote.
Surveillance video shared with McClatchy News shows the dogs continued running along a street before people rushed in to help. The shelter said a North Charleston firefighter and two police officers worked with shelter staff members to rescue the pups, described as “lucky to be alive.”
The dogs, believed to be two parents and their babies, were not yet up for adoption as of March 14.
“Some are more outgoing, and others are shy,” Roman told McClatchy News in an email. “We are still assessing them and are learning more every day.
The shelter, which said it has a sign warning against animal abandonment at its front gate, asks people with information about the dogs or the SUV driver to come forward. Anyone with information can contact community@charlestonanimalsociety.org.
This story was originally published March 15, 2024 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Dogs abandoned in storm chase SUV into street, video shows. Then their luck changed."
