A little dog named Oscar has been given a new beginning after he was tossed in a garbage can and left for dead.
Terry Sparrow and his fiancée were out for a Wednesday evening stroll near Camosun Bog at Pacific Spirit Park when they made a disturbing discovery.
Sparrow went to spit out his gum when they saw a toy poodle lying on top of the garbage.
“I couldn’t believe it, just shocked, horrified, just heartbreaking,” he told Global News.
The couple had recently lost their dog of eight years and were on the trail that night to help with their grieving process.
“Given, like I said, why we’re up here missing our dog that we lost, it was just heartbreaking and we knew we had to kind of spring into action right away to help it,” Sparrow said.
They took the dog, whom they aptly named Oscar, home for a bath and some dinner.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
“It couldn’t stand very long, it couldn’t walk, it kept flopping over,” Sparrow said. “You could see it was in some distress and pain.”
The next day, after alerting all the proper authorities, the couple took Oscar to the vet. Thankfully, he was later discharged into the caring hands Sparrow’s family friend and dog rescuer Laurie Schildt.
Oscar was diagnosed with three broken ribs, and a dislocated hip, along with neurological issues.
“In my 20 years, I’ve never come across a situation like this,” Schildt told Global News.
“This is cruelty, complete cruelty to discard a little living creature in the trash like he’s trash.”
Schildt thinks Oscar is roughly 10 years old, but he had no collar, and his microchip is unregistered.
The RCMP and BCSPCA are investigating and searching for the poodle’s owner. The maximum penalty under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is a $75,000 fine and two years of imprisonment.
“We want to see who abandoned this dog, who threw this dog into the garbage,” Eileen Driver with the BC SPCA said.
“We want them to come forward. Perhaps they thought the dog had passed away, but we don’t know.”
Thanks to some good fortune and kindness, Oscar didn’t pass away.
“He’s got a lot of fight left in him,” Schildt said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
