The five puppies were severely injured and had to be euthanized, said Melissa Smith, the agency's executive director.
The five puppies - with their umbilical cords attached - had to be euthanized, because most of them were missing their limbs, Smith said.
"They were suffering and in pain," she said. "Our veterinarians felt the most reasonable and humane thing to do was to euthanize the puppies."
Smith said the evidence suggests that a person is not responsible for the mutilation, but rather, it was most likely the puppies' mother or another aggressive dog in the area where they were born.
"The offense is how the people chose to dispose of the dogs,"
she said. "That is the part that rises to a cruelty violation - the abandonment in a dumpster."
Smith said that on the morning of June 6, SPCA humane officer Nicole Boyer was sent by York County 911 to the large metal trash bin at East Fourth Street, near North George Street.
Northern York County Regional Police had already arrived and had retrieved the bag from the trash bin, she said.
York County 911 had received a call that morning from a person who thought they heard a cat in distress.
"Someone heard crying from a dumpster and thought it was kittens, which wouldn't be unusual this time of year," Smith said. "They followed the crying to the dumpster."
Boyer immediately took the puppies back to the SPCA's offices at 3159 N. Susquehanna Trail in Manchester Township, where they were examined by the agency's two veterinarians.
That's when the decision was made to euthanize them.
"They would have had no quality-of-life whatsoever," Smith said.
Boyer continues to investigate the case and is asking for the public's help to locate who is responsible.
"I'm sure someone knows where these puppies came from," Smith said.
@TedCzechYDR; 771-2033
How to help
Anyone with information about where the mutilated pit bull puppies were born and kept is urged to contact SPCA humane officer Nicole Boyer, call 717-764-6109, ext. 127.
