A woman has gone viral after sharing the heartbreaking moment she rescued a dog who had been cruelly discarded in trash bags in Brooklyn, New York.
Hunter Tonn, who posted the now-viral video to TikTok on June 17, was out for a walk with her partner when they heard faint yelps coming from a pile of garbage. What they found shocked them: a small dog tied up inside two heavy-duty trash bags, seemingly left out for collection.
“We heard whimpering and went to investigate,” Tonn wrote in the video caption. “He had been tied up in two thick garbage bags and tossed out like trash.”
In the emotional clip, which has surpassed 1.9 million views, Tonn is seen walking with the trash bag in hand, trying to comfort the pup, later named Scrappy. The video shows Scrappy’s tiny face peeking through a tear in the bag before he’s seen wrapped in a towel on Tonn’s lap.
As the couple brought him home to clean him up, Scrappy suddenly began seizing. They rushed him to an emergency vet, where doctors discovered he had a broken jaw and possible neurological damage.
“He’s getting treatment,” Tonn shared. “We just want justice for this little guy.”
A previous clip shows the moment of rescue, with Tonn carefully cutting open one bag to find a second sealed bag inside. When she finally opened it, the injured dog was revealed.
“It was clear this was deliberate,” she captioned the post. “He was in terrible shape and had clearly been thrown away on purpose.”
While many viewers praised her actions, some criticized her for not opening the bag quickly enough. Tonn later responded with another video explaining her caution. “We thought it might be a rat at first,” she said. “Even once we suspected it might be a dog, I had to be careful. We were near a busy street—I didn’t want him to bolt and get hit by a car.”
She added, “I was also worried about rabies or getting bitten. We were trying to be safe—for him and for us.”
Speaking with Newsweek, Tonn reflected on the overwhelming public support Scrappy has received. “I’m really grateful the video went viral,” she said. “After seeing him discarded like that, it’s amazing how much love he’s getting from strangers online.”
Scrappy required extensive and expensive medical care and was eventually surrendered to the veterinarian treating him so he could continue his recovery.
Tonn hopes his story raises awareness about animal cruelty and inspires more people to act if they see or hear something unusual. “Scrappy was thrown away, but now he’s finally safe—and loved.”
