Yahoo News Dog Rescued From Inside Shipping Container Is Expecting Puppies
A friendly dog who shocked Coast Guard inspectors by turning up inside a shipping container had another surprise in store ― she’s pregnant.
Connie, as the golden-furred canine is now named, was rescued last month in Texas after officials at the Port of Houston, inspecting containers to be shipped overseas, heard barking and scratching coming from inside one of the them.
The telltale sounds were coming from a container 25 feet in the air, necessitating a crane to bring it down to the ground.
“As soon as we opened it, we could see the little dog’s face poking out,” Ryan McMahon, a petty officer 2nd class, told The Associated Press.
Connie the container dog, shortly after being freed from the shipping container in which she was trapped for at least eight days.
The dog had been stuck in the container for at least eight days.
“She just seemed happy more than anything, to be out of that dark space and in the arms of people that were going to take care of her,” McMahon said.
On the car ride to a local animal shelter, Connie “just wanted to be pet the entire time,” Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jose Reyes told The Washington Post.
Connie, short for “Connie the container dog,” had no microchip, collar or ID. After being held at the shelter in case an owner came forward, she was ultimately taken in by Maryland-based nonprofit Forever Changed Animal Rescue.
On Wednesday, the rescue organization announced that a veterinary exam had determined Connie was a mother-to-be.
“The fetuses have strong heartbeats and were bouncing around, so while her pregnancy is guarded due to her being without food and water for 8 days or more, we are hopeful given what we could see,” the nonprofit wrote on social media.
Connie with four marine inspectors from the Coast Guard who saved her after hearing her barks and scratches from inside the shipping container.
The new development means that Connie will stay under the care of the rescue organization throughout her pregnancy. Assuming that all goes well, she and her puppies will eventually go up for adoption in the Washington metropolitan area.
Dr. Andrea Deoudes, a veterinarian and FCAR’s founder, is confident that Connie will find “an amazing home” and told the Post that she expected to “receive a million applications.”
Deoudes also told the Post that while Connie’s pregnancy “seems like a really happy thing,” it’s also “tough” because “there’s already five puppies alive somewhere else that may be euthanized because they’re not going to be get adopted.”
It’s not clear how Connie ended up inside the shipping container in the first place. The container was filled with junked vehicles slated to be sold for parts, so one theory is that Connie was inside a car in a junkyard and wound up in the container along with it.
