Pomeranian Dog Found Zipped Into Backpack, Dumped and Clinging to Life Near Boston

Jan has a fluffy face that is impossible not to fall in love with, so it is horribly surprising that someone was able to look this dog in the eye while they zipped her into a backpack without food or water and dumped her in a hard-to-find location.

Luckily, West Roxbury resident Andrea DesJardins spotted the backpack while walking home through her Boston neighborhood. DesJardins noticed the bag tucked under a bush and moved in for a closer look. As she approached the bag, it started to move, according to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“It was so odd to find a backpack close to the sidewalk but seemingly intentionally hidden underneath a bush — so I felt compelled to investigate,” DesJardins told MSPCA.

The Good Samaritan quickly unzipped the backpack and out popped the chocolate-brown Pomeranian. Worried that the dog was suffering after being shut in the bag and abandoned for an unknown period of time, DesJardins took the canine to MSPCA for care.

At the shelter, employees quickly determined that the dog’s body temperature was dangerously low, so they went to work warming her up with heated blankets. Once Jan, the name the shelter has given the pup, was out of the woods, her loving personality began to shine through.

“She perked right up after about an hour outside the bag,” said MSPCA shelter associate director Anna Rafferty-Fore.

Believed to be 9 years old, Jan dodged death thanks to DesJardins. The MSPCA is certain that Jan would’ve died if she stayed shut in that black backpack for much longer.

Because of her amazing story and adorable personality, Jan has quickly become a favorite at the shelter, and already has several people vying to be her pet parent after her mandatory seven-day stray hold is complete.

The shelter is unsure who abandoned Jan and if she has an owner. No one has stepped forward to claim the Pomeranian while she has been at MSPCA.

“She has a microchip that was purchased by the Missouri Pet Breeders Association — likely to satisfy minimum requirements established by airlines who fly pets onboard their planes — but that chip was never populated with an owner’s contact information,” Rafferty-Fore said

This doesn’t mean shelter staffers have given up getting justice for Jan; they are still searching for whoever cruelly dumped the innocent dog. Abandoning a pet is a felony crime in Massachusetts punishable with fines up to $5,000 and up to seven years in state prison.

The MSPCA’s Law Enforcement department urges anyone with information to call its hotline at 800-628-5808.