Evening Walk
As the owner of two dogs, Graham Barrett is no stranger to evening walks. On this particular evening, he decided to take his two dogs out for a warm evening walk.
It was meant to be fairly uneventful until all three of them heard a loud whimper.
The Discovery
Graham described the sound like a muffled whimper of an animal in need. He began to walk down through a clearing of trees to see where the sound was coming from.
Suddenly he uncovered the strangest item to find in the woods.
The Suitcase
Behind a cluster of trees, there was a black and blue suitcase. However, the suitcase's discovery was not only odd in itself, but the luggage was also moving.
Graham was taken aback by the entire situation.
Rescue Mode
The suitcase continued to move, and Graham instantly realized something alive inside the suitcase.
He had gone out without his cellphone, so in the heat of the moment, he searched for another passerby and asked them to call the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
No Response
Despite phoning into the SPCA several times, there was no answer. Barrett understood that time was of the essence in a situation like this.
So he decided to make a huge decision on the spot…
Finding A Solution
Barrett decided that the best decision would be to take the suitcase home with him. So as carefully as he could, he wheeled the suitcase toward his home that was about a 5-minute walk away.
He tried his best not to hurt whatever was inside of the suitcase.
At Home
Once he got the suitcase into his home safely, Barrett began to look over it to see how he could get it opened. The suitcase had a hard outer shell and was locked with two padlocks.
It was obvious that whoever abandoned it did not matter what the suitcase to be found.
Contact With The Mounties
Barrett then decided to phone the town’s local Mounties to ask for help. While he was on the phone with them, he managed to break open one of the padlocks.
Then he began to get nervous about what could be inside of the suitcase.
Nervous
“_I was thinking ‘I hope this is a domestic animal and nothing more dangerous or sinister, such as a person_,’” Barrett told the Richmond News.
Regardless of his fear, Barrett continued to try and open the suitcase open as the day was particularly hot, and he realized that whatever was inside had suffered enough.
Stubborn
The second lock proved to be more difficult to pick than the first one. However, he finally figured out a solution that allowed him to peer inside and see what could be inside.
He was shocked when he saw what looked like a little pup!
Hole
“_I poked a hole big enough for air to get in. It looked like a dog inside_,” Barrett noted. When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police finally arrived, they helped Barrett to open the suitcase.
Once they broke it open, an adorable and quite terrified miniature poodle popped out.
Hungry Puppy
“_My wife immediately scooped him up. We gave him some food. He ate it so fast it seemed like he hadn’t eaten in a week_,” Barrett recalled.
“_He seemed perfectly fine apart from that, even though it was very hot out there. I then showed police where I found him, and they took him to RAPS_.”
RAPS
The poodle was then transferred to the Richmond Animal Protection Society. The staff at RAPS named the cutie Donut.
Upon further inspection, they discovered that the dog was six years old and a male. The organization kept everyone updated on Donut’s condition.
Update
When the dog was first brought to RAPS, he was covered in urine and feces. However, his health was good otherwise.
The organization also noted that “_We believe he had been in the suitcase, on the hottest day of the year so far, for three to six hours_.”
Intentional
The RAPS workers also noted that it was obviously intentional that the dog was locked inside the suitcase. “_It had two different sets of locks on it, which is just crazy_,” RAPS chief Eyal Lichtmann told The Dodo.
“_It’s one thing to lock a dog in a suitcase, another thing to double-lock it, right_?”
Evidence
“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are holding _The suitcase as evidence in the hopes that it can help apprehend whoever is responsible_,” the RAPS website said.
However, RAPS doesn’t necessarily believe that Donut’s owners were responsible for this situation, and you’ll be shocked as to why.
Friendly Pup
The dog was very well-groomed and friendly, which led the staff to believe that Donut was living in good conditions.
“_The minute he recovered, he was just the friendliest, happiest dog. He was very well socialized_,” Litchmann explained to The Dodo.
Revenge Plot
“_We’re not even sure if the actual owners of Donut know what’s going on, and that’s why we’ve done a media campaign to see if we can find the owners..."
"_This sounds more like a revenge situation because the dog’s so well kept_,” Litchmann said.
Looking For The Family
In the meantime, the Mounties and the organization have been working to find Donut’s original owners.
If they don’t find them, they will eventually put Donut up for adoption, and there is already one family interested in the cute poodle.
Lucky
Barrett, the heroic man, is looking to adopt the poodle. Since he already has two dogs of his own, he hopes that his daughter will have the opportunity to take over as the sweet poodle owner.
She hopes to rename the poodle Lucky about the entire situation!