Four caged puppies strapped to roof of van rescued by police

Police officers in Akron, Ohio, pulled over a van on Interstate 76 on Friday after getting multiple calls of caged puppies strapped to the roof. Police rescued the four puppies halfway through a Mennonite family's 300-mile trip from Ashland County to Pennsylvania.



"They've been travelling a long way already and had a long way to go and they had no idea what they were doing was wrong," said Sergeant Kris Beitzel. "I did ask him why the dogs were not in the car and he said he had far more important things to put in the car and there wasn't room."

Raw video of the traffic stop.

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Police did not arrest the family of six which included a couple with their four children less than six years old. Instead police gave them a warning and educated the family on the law. "I didn't see any injuries, I did notice all four would not leave each other," said Beitzel. "They were huddled together, they were scared.



News video.

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"They had urinated throughout the cage, when I tried to get them out they ran back in the cage. They were very scared and I imagine intimidated, having been on top of that van for that long. Now they did have a tarp that covered three sides of the cage, but they are still experiencing a lot of wind, a lot of noise." The three-month-old puppies were taken to Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital in Akron where they are cared for before being taken to Summit County Animal Shelter.