Eight puppies found suffocating in a bag dangling from a tree in northern Spain

Picture this: a beautiful Tuesday morning, lovely weather and this young chap decides to take a walk in the woods near Castañeda (Cantabria). Suddenly, after enjoying being out in nature for a while, he starts hearing what seems to be the crying of puppies. The normal thing is to look down at the ground around you, among nearby bushes, but the sound prompted this particular young man to look up into some trees and there, as you can see in the video, he spots a plastic bag dangling from some high branches and the whimpering is coming from there. Nerves, anxiety, not really knowing what to do and the urge to call emergency services (112) overwhelmed Iván, the young man who experienced this very situation on Tuesday.

He quickly called his friend Toñi Vicente, from the Soytuvoz animal shelter, to find out what was best to do. From the sound of their cries, the animal rescue expert guessed that they were slowly suffocating. While Toñi was on her way from Campuzano to where her friend was, Iván began shaking the branches, which were not very thick. The weight of the bag caused one branch to snap and he managed to catch the package mid-air. He quickly untied the knot on the sealed bag and found eight puppies inside, "no more than a week old".

"They must have belonged to some livestock farmer because they reeked of a smelly stable," says Toñi, on the other end of the phone while feeding them a bottle. "They're mixed-breed, part wolfhound, part mastiff... a mix". The only explanation the rescuers can both find for the pups being high up in a tree is that, whoever put them in the bag and tied the knot, threw them with force and, fortunately or unfortunately, the bag snagged on a branch and they were left hanging there.

According to the local press, after taking them to the vet and confirming they were healthy enough, Toñi took them all home. Now she is looking for foster homes and financial help for milk, bottles, absorbent pads and other necessities for such tiny puppies... "They're very small, their eyes aren't yet open and some of them still have remnants of the umbilical cord", she explains. She is hopeful her appeal on social media will be successful. Anyone wishing to help can do so by calling 644859573 or sending a donation for their care by Bizum to 626839413.