Hero puppy rescued from firey northern Minnesota trash bin

Faint whimpers on a subzero night caught the ear of the pickup truck driver visiting the garbage dump on the edge of a northern Minnesota reservation village.

Clayton Van Wert followed the sound to one of several bins inside the fenced-off yard. The metal dumpster was bursting with flames.

Van Wert clamped his gloved hands onto the 4-foot-high edge of the bin, hoisted himself up and peered down at a puppy burrowed in the trash, its fur charred a deep brown.

Van Wert plucked the pooch from the bin Friday night, called for help and was still fighting back tears days later as newly named Phoenix is being nursed back to health by a Twin Cities veterinarian.

"I don't believe that he got into the dumpster on his own," said Van Wert, 55, who operates a towing and auto recovery business out of his home in Redby. He's sure that the dog, a husky mix "about the size of a small poodle," was too small and the bin too tall for the animal to willingly bound up and over the edge.

"He had to be put in there … by a very, very sick person," said Van Wert, a lifelong dog owner.

Just thinking Monday about how Phoenix ended up left in the burning trash had Van Wert choked up as he recounted hearing whimpers, then a howl and soon seeing "a living puppy" inside the burning bin.

"I reached in, burned my hands and singed my hair, and grabbed him by the front legs," Van Wert said. "When I got back on the ground, he immediately started to walk."

Van Wert said he was amazed how calm and trusting the dog was toward him.

"He came over to me, and he was just like there was absolutely no fear," Van Wert said.

As he lowered a comforting hand to the rescued pup at his side, Van Wert noticed its coat looked like "a burnt marshmallow. I touched his fur, and it just disintegrated."

Van Wert called a tribal conservation officer, who arrived at the dump and delivered the dog to Red Lake Rosie's rescue shelter on the reservation. From there, the puppy was moved to Act V Rescue, which is based in Bloomington and routinely receives injured pets from the reservation with the ultimate goal of finding them a loving home.

"Most of his hair was charred … and his feet were very swollen on the left side, and he has significant burns on his knees," said Schulz, who believes the 5-month-old dog is roughly about half the size he should be, almost certainly from malnourishment. "He either belonged to someone or is one of these pups that runs around from place to place and looks for food."

For the next two to four months, Phoenix will undergo skin grafts as part of his extensive — and expensive — treatment. Donations to the nonprofit Act V can be made at http://www.actvrescue.org on behalf of Phoenix or the other animals that the animal hospital treats pro bono.

On the reservation Monday, the officer who gathered up Phoenix from the rescuer said authorities have yet to track down whoever is responsible for the pup's near-death abandonment.