LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas police arrested a man accused throwing a dog into a dumpster and abandoning it. Local rescue advocates are calling for change as over 300 animal abandonment complaints were made to Clark County in 2025.
“He’s completely shaken up,” Lindsay Pinapfel said. “And obviously he has more fear towards male individuals.”
Pinapfel, Marketing Coordinator for Vegas Pet Rescue Project, was speaking about Atrayu, the dog that was thrown into a dumpster near Jones Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue.
Alexis Flores, 30, was later arrested in connection to the case and faces three counts of an animal-abuse-related charge.
Atrayu was safely placed into a foster home, but Pinapfel told 8 News Now this isn’t the first case like this the rescue has seen and it won’t be the last.
“While I’d like to say it’s surprising,” she said. “It’s not and it’s a shame.”
So far in 2025, Clark County Animal Protection Services received 336 calls for abandoned animals; that’s nearly three per day.
The same time in 2024, 352 calls were received, according to county officials. In all of 2024, Clark County received 1,061 calls for abandoned animals.
These numbers represent complaints, not actual animals found. They also refer to animals abandoned on properties.
“We see it tied to people just leaving animals in their home,” Pinapfel said. “People just going to a park and tying a dog to a fence to leave them there.”
Therefore, how can Southern Nevada stop this from happening? There is no specific answer, according to Pinapfel, but awareness is key.
“We’d like people to start educating themselves better,” she explained. “Educating themselves with the resources that they have in the community.”
It’s also crucial for people to share shocking stories like Atrayu’s to raise awareness, according to Pinapfel. She also encouraged others to step in and help when something seems wrong.
“We need to treat pet abandonment as the serious community issue that this is,” Pinapfel concluded.
