Woman on Kentucky ATV Trail Rescues 10 Puppies Abandoned in Woods

The rider managed to catch the two boldest puppies but could not get hold of the other eight. She hurried home and posted on Facebook, asking if anyone could help. That post reached Lexis Noelle, a volunteer dog rescuer and animal advocate, who drove straight to the area with her fiancé, Jon.

Finding the rest of the litter was not easy. Noelle and Jon searched the woods and worried they might come up empty. "I was truly so worried that we wouldn't be able to find them, but I was not going to give up," Noelle told The Dodo. "We heard something in the leaves and immediately stopped walking, and all of a sudden, [two] little puppies started running down the mountain bank to our left. Once they started running, the rest started following."

The rescuers gathered every puppy in their arms and walked about a mile back to their car. The dogs were in rough shape. All of them were underweight, covered in fleas, and dealing with infections. Even so, the pups were affectionate and clung to the people who came for them.

Noelle took the puppies to the home of her best friend and rescue partner, Haylee Lay, where they got the dogs into the bathtub. "[We] spent about 30 minutes [bathing] each puppy," Noelle said. "We also dewormed them. It took us till midnight to finish."

From there, Noelle worked her rescue network and found the litter a spot at Safe Hands Rescue, a Minnesota-based shelter that runs a rehabilitation outpost in Kentucky. The puppies will get more veterinary care through Safe Hands before heading to Minnesota to begin the adoption process.

For riders who spend time on remote trails, the story is a reminder that backcountry roads are sometimes used as dumping grounds for unwanted animals. If you come across abandoned dogs and cannot safely gather them yourself, note the location and reach out to a local rescue that can send help.

Noelle and Lay say they want cases like this brought into the open, and they credit the rescue groups that partner with them to pull dogs from rural Kentucky. Anyone wanting to help animals in similar situations can donate to Safe Hands Rescue.