The "little miracles" survived the ordeal and will be up for adoption soon.
Very few cases of puppy abandonment come close to a recent incident in the tiny town of Marshfield, Wisconsin.
There, police found a litter of eight puppies — just a day old — inside a trash bag left in a dumpster.
Heart-wrenching bodycam footage captured the moment the puppies were discovered in the bag on Feb. 28 after their high-pitched cries were heard by a Mark Theobald, a door-to-door salesman passing by. He called police and they checked the dumpster.
It's lucky they did.
"I have no doubt that these puppies would have died," Marshfield Police Officer Bob Larsen told Inside Edition. “I kept thinking, 'How could anybody do this? This is absolutely insane.'”
Police arrested Robert Wild for allegedly abandoning the puppies inside a sealed garbage bag. He didn't have to go very far to get rid of them, allegedly dumping them in a bin outside his own home. He was charged with intentionally mistreating animals and has pleaded not guilty.
Released on a $2,000 bond, however, Wild isn't keeping a low profile. When Inside Edition tracked him down, he was found selling puppies.
Posing as a potential customer, Inside Edition's Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero met Wild in a parking lot along with her producer.
"Wow, a basket full of puppies!" said Guerrero. "About how old are they?"
"About 4 weeks," Wild said.
"And are you breeding them?" Guerrero asked.
"No, it was an accident," Wild replied.
"Is it hard to take care of them all?" asked the Inside Edition producer.
"No, not really," Wild said.
Guerrero then revealed who she really was.
"So Mr. Wild, I'm actually Lisa Guerrero with Inside Edition," she said. "Why would you throw those puppies in the dumpster when they were probably going to die?"
Wild insisted he wasn't going to leave the puppies to die in the dumpster.
"I didn't think they were going to die because in the back of my mind I knew I was going to go back and get them out of there," he answered.
"I did something really stupid for a moment," he added. "Do I regret it? Yes I do."
Asked whether he should have animals in his possession, Wild said, "I love my dogs more than anything."
Marshfield Police Chief Rick Gramza said he was stunned by Wild's actions.
"It just gave me a sick feeling," Gramza said, adding that if convicted, the court could order Wild to have no contact with dogs for up to five years.
As for the puppies found in the trash bag, they're thriving and Theobald, the good Samaritan who first heard the puppies' cries, plans on adopting one.
All eight of the dogs are alive and well and being taken care of at Marshfield Area Pet Shelter, run by Executive Director Karen Rau.
"We look at them as little miracles," Rau said. "I was shocked that this could happen in our own community. ... We cannot reiterate enough that people need to spay and neuter their animals so that unwanted litters aren’t tossed in the garbage or the riverside or wherever.”
Since they're from Wisconsin, the dogs have all been named after cheese: Feta, Swiss, Bleu, Muenster, Brie, Gouda, Fontina and Colby.
After pleading not guilty earlier this week, Wild was ordered not to have any abusive contact with animals while he awaits trial.
The puppies will be up for adoption soon — nearly 200 applications have already come in.
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