A man was found with a bucket full of nine puppies trying to give them away to strangers in the street in Manchester, it is reported.
Rescue Me Animal Sanctuary, in Melling, has told how dog wardens got in touch after a woman took all the puppies from the man, last Monday, reported the Liverpool Echo.
She is believed to have been approached by the man, who also had two huskies, and asked if she wanted one of the puppies in the bucket because he could not afford to care for them.
The woman took all the puppies, believed to be around a week old, to a vet and they are now being cared for after what has been described by the animal sanctuary as a "terrible ordeal".
The sanctuary though is trying to track down who the man was, and is appealing for help from the public, with the main concern that other dogs could be in distress.
Steph Taylor, 38, founder of the animal sanctuary said: "Yet another emergency crisis situation and we desperately need puppy supplies urgently. Nine puppies came to us via the wardens who were called to pick them up from a vets in Manchester.
"Sadly, the information we have is very vague but we were told that a man was walking the street with two husky like dogs carrying the bucket of puppies in this freezing temperature. He was trying to give the pups away individually stating he could not afford them and a caring woman passing by took all of them off him as she was concerned about the pups welfare.
"We do not want any negative comments to be made as we have no idea on this man's circumstances and we would like to find out who he is to offer support with a vet check for the mum and dog and food if needed.
"We also do not know if there were more pups in the litter that had already been given away and if so, we are extremely concerned for them and would like to offer help to anyone who may have acquired a sibling to these puppies yesterday afternoon."
Steph explained how the puppies still had their eyes shut when they arrived at the sanctuary and a team of three vet nurse trained fosters are hand rearing them to give them the best chance of survival.
She added: "Our job is to get them to the point of needing homes which is a currently a long and rocky road considering their terrible ordeal."
The team are also asking for people to donate to their Amazon wish list as the nine puppies are going through a lot of supplies.
