Pug Puppies Rescued From San Diego County Dumpster Available For Adoption

LEMON GROVE, CA — A litter of pug puppies rescued from an East County dumpster are looking for their forever homes.

A Good Samaritan bought eight puppies to Helen Woodward Animal Center in December. She had been handed a bag by an unhoused person who found the puppies, only hours old, while looking through a dumpster behind a Taco Bell in Lemon Grove.

Within 30 minutes of arriving, the Rancho Santa Fe-based shelter's foster department had bottle-feeding foster families ready to pick up the pups, along with a string of veterinary visits lined up for the weeks ahead.

One puppy, unfortunately, died, but the rest of the litter grew with constant care. Helen Woodward Animal Center's staff named them the Rainbow Puppies — Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet — to signify the lucky circumstances that brought them to the shelter.

The puppies will be available for adoption starting Friday. Doors open at 10 a.m. at the shelter at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe.

Visit animalcenter.org for more information.