Poodle, kitten both thrown from cars in NJ — dog badly hurt and struggling

An emaciated poodle named Bear was thrown out the window a moving car on Market Street in Paterson Saturday. and was barely moving when he was found, police said.

And in a separate incident Friday, witnesses say a kitten as was tossed from a car on Route 9 in Lacey, then recused from the engine of a car where it hid.

Poodle in Paterson 

Paterson Animal Control officer John DeCando told New Jersey 101.5 that when he and Assistant Chief Mike Rodriquez arrived Saturday, they found a poodle lying at the curb near Advantage Building Supply "thrown away like yesterday's garbage." It had thick, matted fur and was barely moving, he said.

"When we got there the dog was in grave condition. It wasn't moving. I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, its fur was matted so bad. Some no-good rotten person did this and hopefully they'll be caught," DeCando said.

Paterson police and the Passsic County Prosecutor's Office are investigating the incident and are looking for video footage, according to DeCando. A witness told police the dog was thrown out the window of a car "flying down Market Street" around 12:45 p.m.

The dog was brought to the Oradell Animal Hospital, where doctors were in the parking lot awaiting Bear's arrival, DeCando said.

The Bergen Ramapo Animal Refuge, the facility where Bear is recovering, reports Bear had a pelvic fractures, skin lesions and a possible skull fracture and herniated diaphragm when he arrived.

"The next 24 hours will be telling to determine his long term prognosis," the shelter wrote on its Facebook page Sunday.

DeCando said that as of Monday morning Bear was doing "a little better" but he can't walk. DeCando  said he worried about the dog all weekend.

"It makes me sick to my stomach that someone in this day and age ... would allow this to happen. I don't get it. If you don't want your pet, bring it down to your shelter and they'll find a loving, caring home for it," DeCando said.

DeCando asked anyone with information about the dog to call Paterson police at 973-881-3640.

Kitten in Lacey

The crew at Mavis Tire on Route 9 in the Lanoka Harbor section of Lacey Township helped find a cat Friday when a woman came into the store and said she saw it thrown from a car, a manager there told New Jersey 101.5.

The woman told manager Mike Scarpati that she looked around but couldn't find it, Scarpati said. Customer Erich Jackson, who was getting work done on his car, walked around the lot trying to find the cat and heard meowing coming from under the hood of a car.

"I popped the hood of a Nissan Versa and he's laying right on top of the transmission. It's a compact car so it was really tucked up in there," Scarpati told New Jersey 101.5

Scarpati put the car up on a lift but the cat kept moving around, making him difficult to grab.

"He kept moving from from the front of the engine compartment to the back of the engine compartment, in the wheel well. After about 40 minutes we finally got him out. We ended up taking the battery out of the car, took the top of the intake off, the intake snorkle. It was pretty eventful," Scarpati said.

Scarpati said he was bitten by the cat and one of his employees was scratched before he managed to grab the cat and pull him through the wheel well.

"The little guy was so terrified," Jackson said. He took the cat home for the afternoon so he could calm down.

"By later on that evening I got him out of the box and, well, he's with us now. He's doing good," Jackson said. "He's a tiny little thing."

Jackson said police were not notified because the woman could not provide a description of the car.

The cat's new name? "Mavis," said Jackson, who called it a "no brainer" once the cat's sex was confirmed.

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