A 54-year-old woman was arrested in connection with allegedly throwing newborn puppies into a dumpster in an act caught on camera.
Deborah Sue Culwell was arrested Monday in Coachella. Culwell stayed silent as officers led her away from her Coachella home in handcuffs. She faces seven counts of felony animal abuse.
She's the suspect seen in surveillance video shoving seven newborn puppies that were only days old into a dumpster behind an auto-parts store on Thursday in Coachella in 90-degree heat, authorities said. Investigators said they identified her through a license plate number on her white Jeep also seen in the surveillance video.
Fortunately, good Samaritans came to the rescue after a homeless man heard the puppies crying.
The puppies are being cared for at a foster home, so young they have to be bottle fed.
"You can clearly see the bag of puppies being dumped into the dumpster," said John Welsh, the chief of the Riverside County Department of Animal Services. "There's clearly not a level of intelligence that's going to be used if you're going to toss animals."
