The trash can outside the church was locked and self-compacting. A Gardena police sergeant heard faint whimpers coming from inside. If they didn’t cut it open in time, whatever was trapped inside would be crushed.
On December 19th, Sergeant Nick Beerling responded to an unusual call. Someone had reported faint cries coming from a public trash can on Normandie Avenue, right outside a local church. When he arrived, animal control was already there, but they couldn’t get in. The trash receptacle was locked.
The fire department was called to cut the lock off.
When Beerling finally lifted the lid, his stomach dropped. Sitting on top of a pile of garbage was a tiny terrier mix, shaking and whimpering, looking up at him with desperate eyes. The dog had been thrown away like trash. Literally.
But it was worse than that.
The trash can was a self-compacting model. If no one had heard those faint cries, the machine would have eventually crushed the one year old puppy along with everything else inside. He was rescued just in time.
The dog was taken to the spcaLA South Bay Adoption Center, where staff named him Flan because of his light brown, custard colored coat. He was terrified, confused, and had no idea why someone had discarded him in such a horrifying way.
But Sergeant Beerling couldn’t stop thinking about him.
His wife and daughters had been trying to convince him to get another pet for a while. He had always resisted. But something about the little dog sitting on that pile of garbage, shaking and crying for help, broke through his defenses.
On Christmas Eve, Beerling drove back to the shelter with his entire family.
He signed the adoption papers and gave the puppy a new name: Norm, after Normandie Avenue where he was found. The once discarded dog now has a Shih Tzu sibling, a loving family, and a police sergeant dad who will never let anyone throw him away again.
“This little guy,” his wife said, “just tugged on his heart.”
