Who would abandon a cardboard box full of 8 very young puppies in a NE Bend park? Police would like to know

(Update: More info about puppies from Companion Animal Medical Project)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Bend police are looking to the public for any tips that could help them find who abandoned a cardboard box full of eight very young puppies on Sunday at Hollinshead Park in northeast Bend.

Officers were dispatched to the report of abandoned dogs shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.

Arriving officers learned the reporting party was walking near the park’s east side when he heard whimpering coming from behind a garbage can, Miller said Monday. He went to investigate and found the box of puppies, all alive.

Police contacted the Companion Animal Medical Project, and the 4-year-old nonprofit took the puppies to an emergency veterinary clinic. They remained there overnight and were bottle-fed and placed in incubators to keep them warm.

“The eight puppies are estimated to be between 1 and 2 weeks old, and appeared clean and well cared for,” Miller said in a news release.

CAMP founder and Executive Director Johannah Johnson-Weinberg said, "At this time, it’s too early to tell breed based on their age and no parental information/

She said the puppies, four males and four females, "are currently being bottle-fed by dedicated fosters and pending their health, they will be up for adoption in eight weeks, after they have reached age-appropriate vaccines and been spayed/neutered."

All eight survived their abandonment, she said, and will remain with CAMP until they are old enough to be adopted out through the nonprofit’s adoption program, The Peaches Project.

Anyone who has information about whoever may have left the puppies in the park was asked to contact Deschutes County non-emergency dispatch at 541-693-6911.