WEST VALLEY CITY — At first, Jessy Wall thought debris was being thrown out of a moving van’s window while driving on I-15 last week.
But when she took a closer look she realized it was a 10-week-old puppy.
“I thought somebody lost a couch pillow out of their moving van and then it started moving,” Wall said. “It was a puppy.”
She was driving north near 4500 South and stopped. She and two other drivers pulled over.
“I was on the side of the road just waving my arms like a crazy person,” she said Wednesday. “My first instinct was to run out in the middle of the freeway, and then I stopped myself. Then we were able to get him (the puppy) to come over.”
He made it but was badly injured.
Wall said she and the other witnesses couldn’t believe what was happening.
“I said, ‘Did you see that guy just toss him out of the car?’ So since we both thought that, we are definitely thinking that’s what happened,” she said.
Wall said the moving van kept driving away and never came back for the puppy. She also did not get a good look at the license plate and did not file a report.
“The police officer said let’s wait 10-15 minutes in case the owner returns,” she said. “No one ever came.”
She named the puppy Avett and is fostering him as he recovers from breaks to his pelvis and femur. He goes in for surgery Thursday and there’s a possibility his leg will need to be amputated, but Wall is hoping that’s not the case.
“We are just hoping for the best but also keeping things realistic,” Wall said.
Wall and rescue group Herding Haven have teamed up to care for Avett. They have set up a GoFundMe account to help with the $5,000 in bills. Wall hopes to eventually adopt Avett.
“He is here to stay, I hope,” she said.