Man Drives On Highway With Four Puppies In A Cage On His Minivan Roof [Video]

The below video from a police dash-cam shows why many folks called 911 after spotting four puppies in a cage strapped to the top of a minivan while traveling across a highway in Ohio on Friday. Fortunately, the puppies were rescued when Akron police pulled over the speeding van and took the dogs out of the cage from under a tarp.

The caged puppies on the van’s roof were scared, reports NBC News. Police officers responded to multiple calls for help from motorists who spotted the four puppies during a planned trip that would’ve lasted 300 miles — from Ashland County in Ohio all the way to Pennsylvania. The tarp flew open in the back and didn’t fully surround the cage, giving other car passengers the chance to see the puppies beneath the tarp and call for help.

It wasn’t merely one member of the law enforcement who came to help — several police officers from Akron pulled over the van, reports WKYC-TV. Once the puppies were rescued from atop the van riding down Interstate 76, officers learned that the Mennonite family patriarch didn’t realize anything was wrong with transporting animals atop his minivan roof in that manner. The driver of the van wasn’t charged with any crimes, but the dogs were taken into custody after being rescued around 2 p.m. on Friday and sent to a local veterinarian to make sure they were healthy.

The four puppies of a mixed-breed heritage are 3-months-old and were being delivered to the wife’s family in another state. The driver’s name is Wendell Steiner, and he told police he was transporting the puppies as a good deed for his dad, who couldn’t take care of the dogs. The family was in the midst of their trip on Interstate 76 — right near Gilchrist Road, a family location for East Akron residents — when they were pulled over. Among other officers, Jim Cunningham was the main one who caught up with the van after 911 fielded dozens of calls about the puppies on a van roof.

As reported by the Inquisitr, another set of puppies were once found in a dumpster, and a shelter spend $7,000 to nurse them back to health. This latest news about a group of four small puppies surviving a trip in a cage atop a van speeding down a highway — where speeds can reach 70 to 80 miles per hour or more — has definitely gone viral.

[Image via YouTube]