Old Bridge Dog Left To Die In Dumpster On 8-Degree Night Adopted By Former Mayor

OLD BRIDGE, NJ — The dog that someone put in a Dumpster one freezing cold night this past January in Old Bridge was adopted: By the town's former mayor.

Owen Henry, 66, currently a Republican state Senator, was the mayor of Old Bridge for 12 years. This week, he told Patch how he came to own the dog.

"I know the vet that was initially called to care for the dog the morning he was found," he said. "I told her I'd take him if nobody wants him. She said he's spoken for by a really nice couple. But then it ended up that the couple had reservations; they realized how much work and time a dog is. So I got him."

The veterinarian who was first called by Old Bridge Police to evaluate the dog just happened to be Dr. Anita Greenberg-Belli, an Old Bridge Councilwoman. Greenberg-Belli is the owner of the East Brunswick Animal Hospital, where the dog was first rushed to.

The story of a dog left to die on a freezing cold winter night in Central Jersey went viral:

On Jan. 20 of this year — when temperatures plunged as low as 8 degrees, and the wind chill made it feel like -10 — a man opened a Dumpster on Peach Lane in the Glenwood apartment complex and put the small white dog inside. He walked away.

Security cameras captured the man first walking the dog, and then putting it inside the Dumpster at about 10 p.m. that night, a Monday.

The dog somehow survived an 11-hour night outdoors, in January.

It was not until 9:16 the next morning that a Glenwood maintenance worker found the dog. The dog was crying and was freezing cold.

"It was actually more like 4 degrees that night in Old Bridge," Henry recalled this week. "A maintenance man heard the dog crying. What's so sad is a garbage truck was only minutes away from picking up that Dumpster. Had it gotten there 10 minutes earlier, the dog would have been killed, crushed to death. God intervened for this dog."

Old Bridge Police previously said on their Facebook page they have identified the man accused of dumping the dog. However, police have never released his name or any criminal charges filed against him.

"I hope I never run into that individual," said Henry.

The dog, estimated to be about two years old, is thriving today and living with him, his daughter and grandson. The family lives together.

"We were talking about what to name him and I suggested Dumpster Dog. That's what I had been calling him. My daughter told me you can't call him Dumpster. My grandson said he looks like a Winston. So, he's Winston."

On Tuesday, Henry and Greenberg-Bellil toured the Old Bridge Animal Shelter to raise publicity about why people should adopt dogs instead of buying them from breeders. August is also Clear the Shelters Month.

"A lot of towns have done away with their shelters. I think it's important we maintain a shelter here in Old Bridge," said Henry.

Winston has happily joined their one other dog and two cats.

"When he first got him he was 11 pounds. Now he's up to 15," said Henry. "He loves everybody and everybody loves him right back, even the cats."

Original Patch report: New Details On Dog Dumped In Old Bridge In 8 Degrees Overnight (Jan. 21, 2025)