Malissa Sergent Lewis never imagined she’d be rescuing a life on her way to work, but that’s exactly what happened one morning.
As she was running late for her job at an elementary school in Kentucky, Malissa decided to take a shortcut down a quiet back road.
Suddenly, something unusual caught her eye – a trash bag in the middle of the road. But what surprised her even more was what she saw next:
“I saw this trash bag in the road, and I thought to myself, ‘Did I just see that bag move?’ The closer I got, I realized it was moving. I could hardly wrap my mind around that. Something was alive in that bag, and I just knew I had to get whatever it was out.”
As she approached, unsure of what kind of animal could be inside, she cautiously ripped open a corner of the knotted bag.
To her shock and relief, it wasn’t a dangerous animal – it was a puppy! As Malissa shared in an interview:
“The bag was tied off in a knot, so I carefully tore a corner and looked inside. It was a puppy. And he sure was glad to see me. As soon as I opened it up, and he saw light, he just started wagging his tail. He knew he was OK. I couldn’t believe it.”
The puppy, though wearing a collar, had no tag or clue to identify where he came from. Without hesitation, Lewis put him in her lap and continued to work, still running late.
“I just put him in my lap and drove to school. I couldn’t just leave him in the car, so I brought him in with me. The principal saw me and said, ‘You have a dog!’ I said, ‘It’s a long story.’”
After calling her son to pick up the pup, Lewis took him to the vet to ensure he was in good health after such an ordeal.
“We got him his shots. He seems happy and healthy.”
Though it’s unclear whether the puppy was abandoned by its owner or placed in the bag by someone else, there’s no doubt in Malissa’s mind that it was a deliberate and cruel act.
“Who could do something like that to any animal? I don’t care who you are; everybody loves puppies. It’s a real coldhearted person to put an animal, any animal, in a garbage bag and dump it on the side of the road. They had bad, bad intentions doing that.”
Thankfully, Malissa was in the right place at the right time. She and her family have already fallen in love with the little dog they rescued, naming him Hefty – fitting for how he was found.
With no one coming forward to claim him, the family has decided to keep Hefty as their own.
“We all love the puppy. He’s going to be loved, and have a good home with us. I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time to save him. That’s what it was.”
All’s well that ends well! I just hope a cruel act like this never happens again: