Hearts Break as Woman Finds Dog ‘Tied Up’ With Broken Jaw in Trash

A New York-based woman’s heart-wrenching rescue of a severely injured dog from a trash bag has gained viral attention on TikTok. She told Newsweek she had no idea her video would resonate so widely—or stir debate about what should have happened to the canine next.

“We were walking home from a dinner and heard strange whimpering sounds coming from the trash receptacles—luckily my fiancé had his knife on him so we were able to start cutting open the bag,” 29-year-old Hunter Tonn, who is based in Brooklyn, said.

The June 18 video shows Tonn (@hunttonn) walking through the streets of Brooklyn in tears, holding the small, visibly wounded dog. Since its posting, the video has drawn more than 1.8 million views and 128,000 likes.

In her caption, Tonn described how they “heard yelping coming from a trash area.”

“Tearing open the trash, we found this little guy who had been tied up in two heavy duty trash bags and thrown away for garbage collection,” she told viewers.

Tonn continued: “As we were taking him home to give him a bath, he started seizing, so we immediately took him to the ER vet…Once we got there they said he had a broken jaw and probably some neurological damage.”

After cutting through the bag, the couple expected something to pop out but nothing did.

“We saw the animal—no idea what it was at this point but suspected it could be a dog or gerbil or something—moving inside of another heavy duty bag so started to carefully cut that one open as well,” she said. “We finally got it open and honestly it was the worst case scenario to see this old dog with his jaw bleeding.

“He was completely soaked in his own pee so we thought we would take him home and get him cleaned up and safe and file a report.”

But within just two blocks, the situation worsened.

“On the short walk home, he started having a seizure,” Tonn said. “My fiancé ran home to get some towels for him while I waited on the street and called a car to take him to the ER vet.”

At the veterinary clinic, the couple faced a difficult choice. The staff informed them the dog, who Tonn later referred to affectionately as “Scrappy,” needed costly medical treatment.

“The vet said we could either take ownership of him and be responsible for his bills, or we can sign our rights of him over to her and she would take care of him,” she said.

While they initially hoped to care for the dog themselves, Tonn said the cost—estimated between $20,000 and $50,000—was beyond what the young couple could afford. Trusting the vet, who had treated her own rescue dog in the past, they signed over the dog’s care.

Since then, the viral video has not only garnered emotional responses from viewers, but has also sparked some backlash.

“Everyone is saying, oh you shouldn’t have signed him over because now the vet is going to euthanize him,” Tonn said. “I totally don’t agree that vets simply euthanize difficult cases.”

Critics also suggested she should have started a fundraising campaign.

“People are also saying we could have gotten enough money from a GoFundMe to afford his care,” she said. “That’s awesome and I wish I would have known that!

“But there [would have been] no way, I had 130 followers when we found him, barely had an online presence, and never thought people would care to even see his story let alone want to donate to his care.”

Tonn now has more than 2,000 followers on TikTok alone.

Despite the criticism, Tonn remains grateful for the support the video has brought to the dog’s case, and the majority of kind comments.

“I am really grateful that the video blew up because now so many people have gotten to see and love Scrappy,” she said. “It’s really heartwarming, especially after finding him totally discarded—to see all of that love from strangers on the internet.”

Tonn said they are continuing to monitor local shelters such as ACC and the ASPCA in the hopes of reuniting with the dog if he recovers.

She added: “Since we had to sign his care over to the vet we aren’t legally obligated to any updates, but we suspect that if he makes it and gets transferred out he will land at ACC or ASPCA so are keeping a lookout to hopefully foster him at that time.”

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