“A security officer with Rank Investigation & Protection who was on patrol early Wednesday in downtown Modesto saw movement in a plastic bag on the ground and looked inside to find a roughly month-old puppy.
About 1 a.m. Wednesday, Sgt. Dre Castano was at a commercial property on the 1100 block of 12th Street that Rank does security for, said Lt. Brian Rank. He was checking on a homeless encampment that had been vacated, with belongings left behind.
Castano was picking up trash, Rank said, when he found the puppy. It appears someone put the dog in the bag, rather than it having crawled inside, because it was loosely tied closed and the pup couldn’t get out, he said.
The puppy probably wouldn’t have suffocated, he said, but could have died from exposure or starvation. But it still “was in good condition, healthwise,” when found, Rank said.
Castano took the tiny animal to the Rank office, where a dispatcher looked after it until the sergeant finished his shift and took it home. The dog, which looks to be a Chihuahua mix, Rank said, was started on puppy formula and is doing well.
The sergeant intends to adopt the puppy, Rank said. He didn’t know the gender of the dog or if Castano had yet named it.
That wasn’t the only dog rescue in the area on Tuesday. Because no animal-control unit was available, a Modesto Fire Department truck crew was dispatched to a call for a dog with its head trapped in a dollhouse.
The small dog was in distress and having trouble breathing , according to the daily incident summary by Battalion Chief Jesse Nicasio. Firefighters were able to extricate the dog without injuring it.”
