Trapped in animal shelter pipe, puppies perish

By Daniel Tepfer Staff writer for the Connecticut Post

BRIDGEPORT -- Police officials plan new procedures at the city's animal shelter after two-week-old puppies died when they got trapped in the facility's waste-disposal system. "There is a design flaw in the building and we will try to get it corrected," said police Capt. Brian McCarthy of the year-old shelter on Evergreen Street.

"This was a very unfortunate incident. "McCarthy said the puppies apparently slipped into a waste pipe in their mother's kennel Friday and got stuck 5 or 6 feet below the shelter's floor. "It appears two puppies managed to get beneath a loose metal cover on a waste trough and got caught in the drain pipe," he said.

The accident wasn't discovered until a shelter employee heard the trapped animals whining from beneath a bathroom. McCarthy said a business that has a mini-camera affixed to a pipe snake was brought in to try and locate the puppies. "The camera found one puppy lodged in the pipe. We were thinking about ripping up the floor to get it when the decision was made by someone at the shelter to put water in the pipe to push the puppy out," he said. While the flushing action would have killed the trapped puppies, by then shelter employees believed the puppies had died, he said. "Several hours had already gone by since the puppy got in there where it was sitting in waste water and cleaning fluids, and the puppy was eventually presumed to be dead."

McCarthy said after the pipe was flushed using high-pressure hoses, one puppy's body was eventually recovered. He said he doesn't know what happened to the other puppy's body. The waste system is linked to the city's sewer system. "Until we get the flaw fixed I've directed the shelter's employees not to put any small dogs or puppies in kennels with the waste trough," he added.

This article is from The Connecticut Post. News Channel 12 also covered this story, and they have video coverage of the puppy in the drain. Beware of the video, it made me very upset!

Please ADOPT! Get these poor animals out of the shelters and give them a loving home!!!