Dozen sad puppies found in recycling bin after cruel owner 'throws them out like rubbish

A dozen innocent puppies were 'thrown out like the rubbish' by a cruel owner who piled them into a recycling bin and left them to die. 

The five-week-old Staffordshire Bull Terriers were dumped on the roadside just outside the Welsh city of Swansea and left out overnight just like any other waste.

These puppies spent the night in the plastic crate usually reserved for glass, paper and plastic, but luckily they were too weak to climb out and wander into the traffic.

The next morning they were found by passers-by and then taken to an animal rescue centre just half-a-mile away.

Animal shelter manager Laura Simpson said: 'They were in a bad way after being packed into the bin like sardines.

'It is staggering that someone could just put them out like the rubbish.

'We have treated them with emergency fluids and antibiotics - all 12 have bounced back.'

Vets had their work cut out - tending the 12 Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross pups one-by one.

They had been ill-treated from birth, were badly dehydrated and in need of some tender loving care.

Police are investigating the doggy discovery on the roadside at Penllergaer, near Swansea.

But staff at the Llys Nini Animal Rescue centre in the city say all 12 will survive - and they will be free to good homes once their strength has built up.

Animal welfare workers fear more pets will be dumped as the economic squeeze means people can no longer afford to feed them.

But Laura said: 'If the owners were struggling, they should have brought them to us, not abandoned them.' 

The pups - who have not been named yet - will be put up for adoption in three weeks.