Upstate woman arrested after 9 puppies found in trash bag, official says

PAULINE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Spartanburg County Environmental Enforcement said a woman was arrested after nine puppies were found in a trash bag in Pauline.

Officials said on Feb. 27, animal cruelty investigators were called to a wooded area on Shiloh Road where a tree service company found a black trash bag that was tied and moving. Inside the bag was a cardboard box with nine four-week-old puppies and of the nine, only six were alive.

Evidence obtained onsite led officers to a home on Saratoga Avenue. Along with the issue of animal abandonment, it was determined littering was also involved.

According to officials, animal cruelty investigators and a litter officer spoke with a possible suspect. The woman, Tara Elizabeth Johns, admitted to both violations. She was taken in to custody for the littering violation and arrest warrants were secured for the abandonment charge.

Tara Elizabeth Johns was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center, charged with Littering less than 15 pounds and 6 accounts of Animal Abandonment.

Individuals from the tree service company volunteered to secure and care for the puppies.

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