Puppy found days after being tossed from car window outside North Carolina shelter; man charged

Apollo, a puppy, who was tossed from a car window in Bryson City, North Carolina, at the PAWS Animal Shelter, who rescued him.
Apollo, a puppy, who was tossed from a car window in Bryson City, North Carolina, at the PAWS Animal Shelter, who rescued him.

A puppy that was tossed out of a car in front of an animal shelter in Bryson City, North Carolina was found after an extensive search that lasted almost a week.

PAWS, an animal shelter that helps and shelters abandoned, abused, homeless and injured cats and dogs in Swain County, posted an update saying that the puppy, which they have named Apollo, was found on Tuesday.

"Thank you to everyone that’s been supporting us through all of this. We are so thankful we got him inside," said the shelter.

However, the puppy is "malnourished and loaded down with fleas and parasites," said the shelter. He also has some small abrasions and two small fractures which is not surprising given the way he was "thrown violently from a vehicle."

Apollo, a puppy who was tossed from a car window, outside an animal shelter in Bryson City, North Carolina.
Apollo, a puppy who was tossed from a car window, outside an animal shelter in Bryson City, North Carolina.

Man charged

Last week, on Friday, PAWS posted surveillance images of the man tossing a puppy from the car window, requesting the public's help in trying to identify him. The man was identified soon after and was charged with animal cruelty and abandonment, Director of PAWS Beth Stroud told USA TODAY. He is due to appear in court later this month to address the charge.

"I went to the magistrate myself after he was identified," Stroud said. "She's the one that wrote up a summons for the charges."

Stroud said that she did know not the motives behind the man's actions and that she hasn't personally interacted with him. However, she wishes that the person had properly dropped the animal at the shelter instead of tossing it out the car window.

"We're in a very poor county and unfortunately, there is no animal control [here]," explained Beth. "There's no animal ordinances, and our shelter is a privately owned. It was formed in the 80's by a wonderful woman, who knew that the county needed something to help stray animals."

Stroud added that the shelter, the only one in the county, runs on mostly on donations and sales from a thrift store next to it.

The director said they closely work with the sheriff's office to help dogs and cats that need help, despite limited capacity and resources.

"We don't want any animals starving. We furnish dog food and cat food when people can't afford food for their animals. We won't be able to hold on to their animals, but we understand that it costs to keep an animal so we try to help them every way we can," said Stroud.

She said they would have helped the man who threw the puppy if he had approached them.

"Our shelter gate was open," said Stroud. "He chose not to even come through the gates. He had never called. It was never documented what he ever asked us for anyhow for this puppy."

Stroud said that she and her staff were present on the premises but were busy with other animals, so they did not witness the act.

"The way that he discarded this puppy is just wrong and against the law," said Stroud.

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Missing puppy

The shelter said the puppy ran away after it was tossed, prompting the shelter's staff to launch a search for it. Game and surveillance cameras were set up to search for the puppy and the shelter also left food outside to lure it, but that ended up attracting neighborhood cats and raccoons.

Members of the community had also participated in helping to find the puppy.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Puppy tossed from car window found days later; NC man charged