A Long Island pup who was found cruelly tossed into a trash bin is getting a new lease on life — while an animal-shelter employee who allegedly committed the heartless act was slapped with animal-cruelty charges Saturday.
“It’s really a miracle, a million-to-one shot” that the dog survived, said Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “It’s like buying a lottery ticket and winning.”
The owner of the Lhasa apso mix couldn’t care for the pooch anymore and gave her, along with a cream-colored male poodle, to cage cleaner Michael Papini, authorities said.
Papini allegedly collected $ 250 and promised to bring the pups to the Town of Islip Animal Shelter, where he worked.
Instead, authorities said, Papini stuffed the bug-eyed pooch — since nicknamed “Miracle” — in plastic bags, placed her in a cardboard box and tossed it into a garbage bin at a West Islip gas station two days before Christmas.
But the 1¹/₂-year-old canine chewed her way out and was found by a homeless man, Gross said.
The plucky pooch was brought to the Islip shelter, where workers used her ID microchip to get in contact with the owner, Gross said.
The owner told them about Papini, Gross said.
Michael Papini
is brought into custody on
Saturday after allegedly
dumping a dog in the trash.Photo: Edmund J Coppa
The dog was thrown in this bin.Photo: Edmund J Coppa
Authorities released surveillance footage of the incident, which brought in tips for the investigation.
“If you look at the surveillance video, you can watch him open the back hatch of the car, open up the Dumpster and throw it in there like yesterday’s garbage, without even thinking. There’s a live animal in there,” Gross said.
Papini allegedly released the 5-year-old poodle on Cooper Street in Babylon.
That dog, named Bailey, still hasn’t been found, Gross said, adding the Suffolk SPCA is offering a $ 500 reward for information on his whereabouts.
Papini, 30, pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of animal cruelty, animal abandonment, criminal impersonation and petty larceny and was released on $ 250 bail.
Gross was unsatisfied.
“This guy was released on $ 250 bail. I find it very disappointing, to say the least,” he said. “What message are we sending?”
Papini was suspended without pay by the shelter.
“The Islip Animal Shelter prides itself on its professional treatment of all pets that come through its doors,” the shelter said Saturday. “This troubling incident in no way reflects the loving and caring treatment for all animals from our many dedicated staff and volunteers.”
As of Saturday, Miracle was waiting to see if her owner would retrieve her or if she’d meet any of the 25 people who have inquired about adopting her, the shelter said.
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