“It was a really heartbreaking scene …”
When Simone Belser, cofounder of Protect Animals Worldwide, received a call about a dog tossed out like garbage, she didn’t hesitate to respond. Following the tip, she arrived at the reported site, lifted the lid of a dumpster — and found herself staring into the gentle eyes of a pit bull mother surrounded by her tiny, newborn puppies.
“It was devastating to think someone could discard a whole family like that,” Belser said in a video shared by The Dodo.
The puppies were so young they hadn’t yet opened their eyes. Belser knew that if she didn’t act immediately, the little ones wouldn’t make it through the night.
“We had no time to lose,” she said. “If we didn’t take them right then and there, the babies wouldn’t survive.”
Belser rushed the mother and her litter to Protect Animals Worldwide’s emergency hospital for care. The puppies were dangerously cold, barely moving, and in desperate need of warmth and medical attention.
“We had to revive and stabilize them,” Belser explained.
The rescue named the mother Regina. Despite her exhaustion, she remained fiercely devoted to her babies, never leaving their side. Her care and determination played a crucial role in saving them.
“She gave everything she had to keep her puppies alive,” Belser said. “It wasn’t her fault she was thrown away like trash.”
The team could tell the family had been in the dumpster for quite some time — their fur reeked of waste. The pups had likely spent their entire lives up to that point in that dark, confined space. But thanks to their rescuers, that chapter ended for good.
Over the next few weeks, the puppies grew stronger and healthier, eventually finding loving forever homes. Mama Regina, however, is still waiting for hers.
Regina, now living at the rescue’s facility in Brazil, needs a patient family who understands that healing takes time. Protect Animals Worldwide is willing to arrange her adoption to the U.S. for the right match — someone ready to show this resilient mother the love and safety she’s always deserved.