Santa Fe police on Wednesday sent out a news release asking for the public’s help in finding a man suspected of abandoning a dog Tuesday at Dunkin’ Donuts.
On Wednesday morning, police said, the city’s Animal Services Division received a report that a man left a dog in the parking lot of the Dunkin’ Donuts. A note left on the dog said, “I’m free. I’m having babies,” photos showed.
Surveillance video captured a man opening the door of a van and letting out the dog with the note attached. The man went inside the store to order a cup of coffee, police said, and the dog followed him to the front door.
The dog is now at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society, police said, adding that it was still uncertain whether the dog was indeed “in early stages of pregnancy or if she is suffering from a uterine infection.”
Theresa Phelan, an animal control officer for the city, said in an interview Wednesday that the man who left the dog in the parking lot could face misdemeanor charges of abandonment or neglect of an animal.