Part of the daily duties of a police officer is to be there to help people when they need it. This duty also extends to animals, as one case in Daytona Beach, Florida, shows.

Thanks to the Daytona Beach Police Department, one abandoned puppy was saved and was able to find her forever home.

A puppy in need of some help

The police got a report that a puppy had been found in a cage under a bridge. Time was of the essence as it was a cold day in January and the puppy probably wouldn’t last long in the freezing temperatures.

The only thing they had to go on was that the puppy was in a cage, according to the anonymous tipster.

Warming the pup

Arriving at the Seabreeze Bridge, Animal Control Officers James Lee and John Pearson began to search. Soon enough, they had found a small blue kennel, and inside it was a small, shivering puppy who had been abandoned.

The officers took the puppy out of the kennel and rushed her to their cruiser where they hoped to warm her up.

The puppy was very cold

A video shot of the puppy shows just how cold she was. She didn’t have much fur, so she had little protection against the elements. It seems the cops might have arrived just in time, as the puppy whimpered in obvious pain from her ordeal.

The police held the puppy as they passed her back and forth to keep her warm.

The warming efforts worked

While warming the pup, one of the officers expressed the desire to take the dog home. Of course, the officer admitted that it probably wouldn’t happen because a dog is a big responsibility. Meanwhile, the efforts to warm the puppy seemed to work.

Naming the puppy River, the officers transported the dog to the shelter to be checked out.

River is adopted

Once at the Halifax Humane Society, River was nursed back to health. And while the police officer who had expressed an interest in adopting her did not end up doing so, another member of the department, Officer Kera Cantrell, did.

After visiting and falling in love with River, Cantrell took her home to live with her and her other dog, Goose. The Daytona Beach Police Department posted about the incident on their Facebook page, thanking everyone involved, including the person calling in to report River’s predicament.

“As you know, her story ended happily; she is safe and sound and very loved in the home of one of our police officers,” posted the Daytona Beach PD. “And we really want to thank the person, whoever you are, who called and let DBPD know that River had been left to die under the Seabreeze Bridge in mid-January when the temperature had fallen to below freezing.”

To top it off, River even has her own Facebook page, where her fans can keep tabs on her. For more of River’s rescue by the kind officer of the Daytona Beach Police Department, watch the video below.

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Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal

H/T: Animal Channel, Treehugger