Waste Management workers hailed as heroes after rescuing dog in a dumpster

BRADENTON, Fla. (WWSB) - A couple of Waste Management workers are being hailed as heroes after rescuing a six-month old dog from a dumpster at a Manatee County gas station.

The female pit bull mix is in safe hands at the Manatee County Animal Services after being found inside its crate in a dirty dumpster behind the Speedway gas station located at SR 64 and Upper Manatee River Road/Lakewood Ranch Blvd.

Waste Management workers, Ahriel Jones and Daniel Comier, found the dog as they were getting ready to empty the dumpster.

“I saw a little head pop up out of the second dumpster that we haven’t dumped yet so when I looked over again I noticed it was a puppy dog," says Comier. “She wouldn’t leave the dumpster; she was too afraid. If I had a bigger home I would of taken her with me, she was a beauty."

“I was talking to her and I said, ‘You ready for me to get you out of here? Would you let me pick you up?’ I started rubbing her under the chin and the head and she let me pet her," says Jones.

The workers say they were just doing their jobs but are now being called heroes for rescuing the dog.

“They say hero but it’s just doing the right thing. I just thank God that I was able to be a part of rescuing that animal," says Jones.

“It makes us feel good that we would save an animal’s life like that, a puppy like that. She’s beautiful and you know I can’t believe someone would do that," says Comier.

The dog is now at Manatee County Animal Services, which is investigating, and is under medical evaluation, though she appears to be healthy and active.

Abandoning an animal is a crime. Anyone who abandons an animal and that animal suffers injury or malnutrition or abandons any animal in a street, road or public place, without providing care is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

If you have any information, call 941-742-5933.

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