Moment dog dumped on busy highway breaks hearts—unexpected twist goes viral

Heartbreaking footage captured the moment a dog was dumped on the side of the road, only to be saved by a veterinary student who was in the right place at the right time.

Amelia Brown was driving through her hometown of Philadelphia in September 2024 when she spotted the terrified dog standing in the middle of the highway. A nearby security camera captured the dog’s previous owner pulling a car over and abandoning the dog on the busy street.

Brown, 29, told Newsweek that she “acted on instinct” the second she saw the helpless dog stranded in the road. She ran out of her car to rescue the dog and took him home to safety. She later reported the license plate but the man from the video was never found as the car was stolen.

“I have no clue why he was abandoned, although I think they chose to dump him at that moment because he got car sick,” Brown said. “In the longer version of the footage, you can see them cleaning out the car, and the dog also got car sick when I took him home too.”

The dog, named Hiccup, was assessed by Brown, and fortunately didn’t require any medical attention or care. He didn’t have any scratches or injuries, but was understandably shaken. Brown believes that Hiccup’s owner fed him a very poor diet, so she got him started on far more nutritious food and even neutered him herself a week later.

“I immediately got him on a good sensitive skin and stomach diet as he also has allergies that we treat,” she said.

There was some hesitation initially as Brown and her partner had two dogs already but any reservations soon disappeared.

“My fiance was adorable about it. We found Hiccup on a Thursday, and my fiance said we could see how the dog coped over the weekend. But by Friday night he had already signed Hiccup up for a six-week puppy class, so I think we both knew pretty early on that we were keeping him,” Brown said.

She shared Hiccup’s rescue story on TikTok (@theluckybellas) and it left internet users fighting back tears. The video shows the moment Hiccup was abandoned before showing a montage of him thriving in his new home. The clip has gone viral with over 6.6 million views and more than 1 million likes on TikTok at the time of writing.

While Hiccup may have found a safe forever home, there are still many more pups waiting for their second chance. Brown hopes Hiccup’s story will inspire more people to rescue animals in need or remind others that there are many options for rehoming a pet that don’t involve abandonment.

She told Newsweek: “Hiccup has settled in great. We lost his older sister about four months after we found him, and he was truly such a blessing. I had her since high school and she was absolutely everything to me, so to have him to get me through it was incredible.

“He is a great dog and the biggest love bug on the planet. He can be a little naughty sometimes as he loves stealing things off the counter, but he’s forgiven for being adorable. He loves toys and has his own toy bin at home that he always combs through,” Brown continued.

In just a matter of days, the TikTok video has generated over 21,300 comments. Many were horrified to see the moment Hiccup was brazenly abandoned, while others praised Brown for coming to his rescue.

One comment reads: “Why would they not bring him to a shelter if they couldn’t keep him? This is so unforgivable. So happy he found you.”

Another TikTok user wrote: “homeless for 5 seconds, got scooped up by an angel.”

While another person replied: “Awww you can tell how scared the dog was coming out their car.”

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