A Red River Waste Solutions driver opened up a trash bin around 9:30 a.m. and to his surprise, a weak and emaciated puppy looked at him.

“The puppy was in a cage,” said Alyssa Brown, a spokeswoman for Red River. “It was too weak to cry.”

The driver put him inside the truck and placed things around him to make him comfortable, Brown said.

Now, after that March 20 fateful encounter in an alley off the 200 block of East Masterson Avenue, Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control is asking for help finding those responsible for the mistreatment of the 4-month old puppy, which is now blind for life due to its injuries.

The puppy, determined to be a pit bull mix, suffered broken ribs that had healed “and whatever kind of trauma that caused it to be blind,” said Holly Pasquinelli, Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control spokeswoman.

After the driver took the puppy to the Red River office, a manager's wife took the puppy to a veterinarian, Brown said, and then the puppy was turned over to Animal Care & Control.

A staff member fostered the dog, which is now up for adoption, Pasquinelli said.

Brown said the driver who rescued the puppy did not want to be identified. Drivers are told to check the bins before garbage is dumped into the trucks. This particular truck did not have the arms that pick up bins, so the driver had to flip open the top to dispose of the contents.

This is the second time a Red River Waste Solutions driver has rescued a puppy from the trash. On Feb. 22, 2018, a crew heard a puppy crying in the back of their truck as they finished their route in the 2900 block of Reed Street. The dog survived and was adopted.

Anyone with information on the puppy found this year is asked to call Animal Care & Control at 427-1244. After 8 p.m. and on weekends, call 449-3000.

jduffy@jg.net