Jennifer Vaz was walking her own dog, Molly, near a New Jersey beach, when she heard whimpering. Below her, near the rocks and partially submerged by the incoming tide, was a cage with a 10-month-old pit bull inside.
“When I looked down, I saw these eyes looking back at me — these cute little puppy eyes all shivered up and scared,” Vaz told WABC on Tuesday. “I couldn’t believe that this happened in our town and somebody could be this malicious and do that to that dog.”
She immediately hopped the barrier to rescue him, calling authorities once she was home safe with the dog. Now the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.
“The tide was coming in and the water had reached the cage,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. “When animal control arrived on the scene the cage was almost covered by the rising tide. If not for the heroic rescue act of the good Samaritan, the dog could have potentially drowned.”
Vaz gave him the name “River” before she turned him in to authorities. She plans to adopt him. It “just feels like the right thing to do,” Vaz says, who has posted pictures of River adapting to his new home on Facebook. “He feels like he’s part of our family.”
River’s new home also includes plenty of playtime with his future mom and his big sister Molly. Finally, this young pup knows what it means to be loved.
Watch Jennifer Vaz’s story about finding River in the video below:
