“Is it really a dog trapped in this container? We just couldn’t believe it,” Coast Guard inspector Ryan McMahon tells Inside Edition.
U.S. Coast Guard inspectors were going about their daily checks on a loading dock when they heard scratching coming from inside a shipping container. When they opened it, they were surprised to find a dog.
“We were like, ‘Is this actually happening right now,’” Coast Guard inspector Ryan McMahon tells Inside Edition. “'Is it really a dog trapped in this container?' We just couldn’t believe it.”
The dog had been trapped inside the container in Galveston, Texas, for at least eight days and survived without food or water.
The dog's rescuers named her Connie, as in, Connie the Container Dog.
“She seemed very relieved and happy to be out of that dark container,” McMahon says.
“I can’t believe she survived that long,” Coast Guard inspector Lucas Loe says.
How Connie got into the container remains a mystery. One theory is she was seeking shelter in a car junkyard and the car she was hiding in was then brought to the dock and loaded into the container, which was scheduled to be shipped to Dubai for spare car parts.
After being found, Connie was flown to a rescue organization in Potomac, Maryland.
Andrea Deoudes, a veterinarian and founder of Forever Changed Animal Rescue, is fostering Connie.
Deoudes also discovered Connie was pregnant.
“That’s when we got the ultrasound out and I start scanning and boom, there were puppies, and more puppies, and more puppies,” Deoudes says. “There’s the dehydration, the starvation, and then to still have the energy to bark and get the attention of the Coast Guards is wild.”
Connie’s puppies are due in three weeks. Once they are weaned, Connie and her puppies will all be put up for adoption.
