While walking home from dinner on an ordinary night in Brooklyn, Hunter Tonn and her fiancé heard something that stopped them in their tracks: a faint whimpering sound coming from a nearby trash area.
That eerie cry turned out to be the beginning of a heartbreaking rescue story that would touch millions.
“We heard yelping coming from a trash area,” Hunter shared on TikTok, her voice shaking with emotion. “Tearing open the trash, we found this little guy who had been tied up in two heavy-duty trash bags and thrown away for garbage collection.”
What they found inside would shake anyone to their core.
They didn’t even know what kind of animal it was at first—just that it was alive and in trouble. Carefully cutting through the thick plastic, they discovered an elderly, bleeding dog, his jaw visibly broken and his tiny body soaked in urine. They later affectionately named him Scrappy.
“We thought we would take him home, clean him up, and make him safe,” Hunter told us. But the plan shifted quickly. “On the short walk home, he started having a seizure.”
Her fiancé sprinted back to grab towels while Hunter waited on the street, holding Scrappy in her arms as she called for help.
At the ER vet, the couple got devastating news: Scrappy had a broken jaw, possible neurological damage, and would require $20,000 to $50,000 in medical care.
Heartbroken, the couple had to make a choice. The vet—who had treated Hunter’s own rescue dog before—offered to take over his care if they surrendered rights. Trusting her, and unable to shoulder the costs themselves, they agreed.
“I wish I had known to set up a GoFundMe,” Hunter admitted. “But I had 130 followers at the time. I didn’t think people would even care to see his story, let alone help.”
Now? That video of her tearfully carrying Scrappy has reached over 1.8 million views and 128,000 likes. And her TikTok following has surged to over 2,000.
But not all of the internet’s response has been kind.
“Some people were saying we shouldn’t have signed him over, that the vet was just going to euthanize him,” she said. “But I don’t agree that vets just put down every hard case. I trusted her.”
Despite the backlash, Hunter says the outpouring of support and love for Scrappy has been overwhelming—and healing.
“To see all that love from strangers on the internet? It’s really heartwarming,” she said. “Especially after finding him totally discarded like that.”
While she no longer has legal access to Scrappy’s case, she and her fiancé are keeping a close eye on local rescues like ACC and the ASPCA, hoping they might be able to foster him someday if he recovers.
“We’re watching and waiting. We just hope he’s okay.”
