MILWAUKEE — Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear City of Milwaukee sanitation department uniforms and drive garbage trucks.
Let's rewind the clocks back to April. Naz Nalls and his partner Omar are picking up trash like they do each day.
“You know, like the average day, kind of running smoothly," Naz Nalls, a garbage truck driver for the City of Milwaukee, said.
Attaching garbage bins to the truck, dumping them, and activating the compactor to smash it all together. Bins never fall off once attached, and nothing makes it past the compactor.
But, thankfully, for whatever reason, this one April day was different. The bin fell off before it got dumped.
“Usually, it don't fall off. That's what's crazy about this. I feel like it was kind of destiny," Nalls said.
So Nalls and his partner looked inside.
“When it fell off, you kind of looking like this. You just see a dog," Nalls said.
A frail and malnourished dog. But, he was friendly. Following protocol, they called their supervisor, Alex Halverson, who just so happened to already be on the way to check on that specific crew.
Right away, Halverson and the dog bonded.
“Yea, first time I pulled him out of the garbage can, he did this. He let me pick him up," he said.
Halverson also gave the dog the two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches he was saving for lunch.
"He didn't even chew. He just inhaled," Halverson said.
Unfortunately, finding animals inside garbage bins, alive or dead, isn't uncommon for sanitation crews. That's why Halverson knew to call Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC). Instead of waiting for anyone to pick the dog up, Halverson drove him to MADACC.
“He did poop in the truck, which I thought was kind of funny. He felt very comfortable.”
A good sign for Halverson. MADACC took care of the dog, fostered him out, which is part of their protocol, and Halverson was given first dibs at adoption. It just so happens that he was looking for a second dog.
“So, a dog who can persist and still trust people. He hasn't met a single person he doesn't want pets from. Just made me feel like that was kind of the one," Halverson said.
He named the dog PJ after the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Halverson gave him. For Halverson, there really never was a doubt after meeting PJ that this was the dog for him.
"God knows what he went through. And the fact that obviously he was in a garbage can, purposefully discarded. He was buried under garbage, and the fact that he was still super friendly. Obviously, he rolled over to show me his belly right away, and was apparently following my two guys who found him. He was following them wagging his tail," Halverson said.
It was a series of events that were destined to happen: man's best friend was tossed into a garbage can, which just happened to fall off the truck, right as someone wanting a dog came driving to him. Call it what you want, but Halverson, Nalls, and PJ call it fate.
Watch: Milwaukee sanitation crew saves puppy from garbage can and adopts him....
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