In Livingston, Merced County California, in 2009, animal control officer Kristin Lucas rescued an elderly chihuahua from a dumpster behind Sam's Food City.

He had been put in a garbage bag which was tied shut, and just thrown in the trash. A store worker heard the dog whimpering for assistance, so called animal control.

Lucas arrived and looked in the dumpster, spotting the black plastic bag.

"I saw a head sticking out of a tiny hole. The hole was just big enough for his head. He had obviously worked to get his head out so he could breathe."

The old dog, soaked in his own urine, was taken to veterinarian Christine McFadden at Valley Animal Hospital.

He had puncture wounds over his body, having obviously been attacked by another dog before someone discarded him as preferable to veterinarian care.

Other than these injuries and some minor tooth problems associated with old age, he was a healthy dog. "This dog could have suffered a horrible, horrible death," said Lucas. "Thank goodness someone found him." For a while he was known as Dumpster Doggy, but was soon named Old Man and put up for adoption.