Nine puppies dumped in duct-taped bag at northern San Diego County park

Somebody stuffed nine puppies into a dog-food bag, duct-taped it and abandoned it at an Escondido park this week, and authorities want to know who did it.

The puppies are Shar-Pei/Labrador retriever mixes roughly 10 to 14 days old, according to the San Diego Humane Society.

A pair of good Samaritans found them Thursday morning near a bathroom on the south end of Kit Carson Park in Escondido, Humane Society spokeswoman Dariel Walker said.

The bag had been sealed with the pups, still too young to be separated from their mother, stuck inside. There was a hole in the bag, so they were able to breathe.

The puppies — six males and three females — were cold, dehydrated and covered in feces and urine.

The law enforcement division of the Humane Society has opened an investigation into what it said was felony cruelty.

“This is a heartbreaking case, because we would have taken those puppies … no questions asked,” Laurel Monreal of the Humane Society said in a news release.

The discovery happened about 7 a.m. Thursday, when Merrillyn Carpenter was with a friend, walking their dogs in the park. They spotted a large bag marked Ol’ Roy Dog Food. Carpenter thought the big bag was out of place. Then she heard a noise coming from it.

“They were screaming,” she said. “They were all screaming.”

Once at the Humane Society, the puppies were treated, cleaned up, and given fluids and fed repeatedly. The dogs have been placed into foster care for round-the-clock care.

“They are still going to need quite a bit of time in foster homes before they are available” for adoption, Walker said.

Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.