1-Week-Old Puppies Recovering After Being Put In Sack, Thrown In River

UXBRIDGE (CBS) -- Six puppies are healthy and being cared for by Uxbridge Animal Control after they were found floating in a potato sack on the Blackstone River Sunday.

"It unconscionable, you can't imagine what's going through my head as a police officer for 29 years, someone would do that, someone would take six fairly newborn puppies and discard them in a body of water," said Uxbridge Police Chief Jeff Lourie.

The puppies, all about a week-old, are being kept together in a box for the time being.

"The guardian angels for these six little puppies was watching over them, and two kayakers came across and rescued them," said Lourie. "They heard the dogs, the puppies whimpering in a potato sack."

Animal Control Officer Kevin Sullivan explained, "We right now have them on a dog formula/goat's milk, 50-part to be able to get their wait up and to get them healthy."

The runt of the liter is on antibiotics and all of the puppies are on probiotics to boost their system, said Sullivan.

Officials are looking for a man on a mountain bike who may have been in the area of River Road "we assume between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., when we received the call," said Lourie.

Officials said whoever discarded the puppies will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The puppies will be available for adoption in a few months.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports