Surviving puppy thrown from vehicle placed in foster care - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Surviving puppy thrown from vehicle placed in foster care

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By Melanie Torre - bio | email
This puppy is the only one that survived This puppy is the only one that survived

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TYLER, TX (KLTV) -

On her way to work on Thursday, an East Texas woman says she witnessed a shocking act of animal cruelty.

Natasha Stidam was on Highway 31 East driving from Kilgore to Tyler when the vehicle in front of her started tossing objects out of the car window.  

One looked like an animal, so she turned to go back for it.

"There were about 3 or 4," she says.

It was a horrible sight--  nothing Natasha had ever seen before or ever wants to see again.

"I'd seen something splatter on the road, and I realized that it was animals being thrown out. I slammed my brakes and I turned around. There was one puppy alive laying in the middle of the road, and I stopped traffic to get him," she says.

Natasha wrapped that puppy up, put him in her car and headed for the first veterinarian clinic she could find. He's the only one who survived the abuse.

"I can't believe that anybody could be so cruel," says Natasha.

The veterinarian who examined the puppy found he had a swollen jaw and an injured leg.
Thursday, he was given medication for the pain. Friday, the veterinarian was still running tests and thought the dog my need a cast. He'll be put in foster care for the weekend and a more permanent home will be found next week.

"I have animals and I would never do anything like that. If they didn't want [the puppies], they could have taken them to the pound. Maybe they would have a chance," Natasha says.

As far as whoever is responsible for the crime, Natasha didn't get a good look at the vehicle.
She just knows it was an old silver pickup.

"I was crying hysterically because I'm an animal lover and all I thought was, 'I've got to see if these puppies are still alive,'" says Natasha.

Natasha adds that she never comes to Tyler for work. She usually works in Longview, but Thursday she was attending the business expo and because of that change in routine, a puppy got a second chance. 

Animal cruelty can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or a felony, punishable by a ten thousand dollar fine and up to two years in jail.

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