California Chihuahua Pup With Red Manicure Found Abandoned Inside Purple Purse
Local SPCA offers $1,000 reward for arrest, conviction of person responsible.
— -- An 6-week-old Chihuahua puppy sporting red-painted nails has been rescued after apparently being abandoned in an empty alleyway behind a California restaurant.
"He's too young," said Beth Brookhouser, director of community outreach of SPCA for Monterey County. "He should still be with his mother, but we’re taking good care of him and he seems to be a big person in a little package.
"We're confident that once this case is solved and he's old enough, he's going to have a long line of people open to adopt him."
The puppy, which SPCA staff is calling Pierre, is a brown-and-black Chihuahua mix weighing just 2.1 pounds.
Brookhouser told ABC News that Pierre was found trapped inside a lavender doggy purse by a good Samaritan on July 19, behind a restaurant called Patria in Salinas, California.
"She heard some crying, looked in alley and found him in his carry bag," she said. "It was very dirty and there was no food or water."
The woman who found Pierre, Brookhouser said, cared for him for a few days, then surrendered him to the SPCA.
The organization has advertised a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.
As for the pup's red-painted nails, Brookhouser hopes the distinction will help make a difference in the case.
"Thankfully, its one of the little pieces of evidence that will hopefully find the person responsible," she said. "It makes him more easily identifiable. There's a lot of black-and-brown Chihuahuas around here, but if someone can call us and say, 'I saw someone with a little black and brown puppy and I noticed his nails were painted red,' that significantly narrows it down for our officers."
Brookhouser said the SPCA investigated the possibility that Pierre was stolen, but results came up short.
"We have some leads, but we want people to know that abandonment is not the answer," she added. "Shelters will take in all animals -- no questions asked, but when you choose to do the illegal thing and the inhumane thing, we will do our best to go out, find who did this and prosecute the person responsible."
If anyone has information about Pierre the puppy, Brookhouser said she encourages the public to visit spcamc.org.
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