At 3:25 in the morning, a man drove to an animal care facility in Mission Viejo, California. He got out of his car, threw a puppy through a closed gate, got back in his car, and drove away.

The puppy was left alone. In the dark. In an area known for coyotes.

Surveillance footage caught the whole thing. The puppy, visibly scared and disoriented, somehow found its way to the front entrance of the facility. Staff described the moment as heartbreaking. The puppy was lucky to be alive.

This was not a mistake. This was not an accident. A person made a deliberate choice to throw a defenseless animal into the night and leave it to fend for itself. If a coyote had found that puppy before the veterinary team did, this story would have ended very differently.

Mission Viejo Animal Services is working to identify the man in the footage. And we are calling on local authorities to pursue the strongest possible charges once this man is found. Animal abandonment is a violation of California law.

What happened to this puppy was cruel, reckless and completely unacceptable.

Sign this petition and tell Mission Viejo authorities: find this man and hold him fully accountable.

Photo: KTLA