Good Samaritan talks about saving Bessemer puppy allegedly poisoned

BESSEMER, Ala. (WBRC) - A Good Samaritan is sharing his experience after saving a litter of puppies he says he saw someone poison.

The animal advocate says in that moment he had to do something to try and save their lives. Calvin Tucker is also known as “Black Noah.”

“They don’t have a voice,” said Tucker. “We’re their voice and we’ve got to fight for them. Proverbs 12:10 says the righteous man take care of the needs of his animals and that’s what I try to live my life by.”

This past week, that mission brought him to a puppy litter in a Bessemer neighborhood.

“Monday evening I saw her pouring antifreeze in a bowl and saw several puppies all scattered out,” he explained. “I was trying to get two across the street from the perpetrator’s house and as I’m getting those two from under a crawl space, I noticed one puppy drinking out of the bowl that she had just poured the anti-freeze in.”

Tucker said he sprung into action and took that puppy along with others in the litter to the vet. Unfortunately, one pup died early the next morning.

“I was just out of it,” he described. “Felt anger. Felt sadness, grief. I named the puppy Damar after Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo football player. I wanted him to have a name in his final moments.”

Five of Damar’s litter mates are now at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society.

“It’s clear as day a felony and, under our criminal code, aggravated animal cruelty is defined and this meets the definition,” said GBHS CEO Allison Black Cornelius. “There’s evidence and there’s witnesses and there’s a vet record and there’s a toxicology report and we have a dead 7-week-old puppy.”

Tucker is still searching for the rest of the pack which was last seen underneath an abandoned house. Tucker says they seem to be a bit more skittish than the first six.

“Animals should be treated like family member because that’s what they are and I just want people to wake up and start treating them better,” he said.

WBRC reached out to the Bessemer Police Department on Friday. As of Sunday night, they have not responded to the request.

Calvin Tucker wants the state of Alabama to impose stricter laws to better protect these animals and be the voice for the voiceless.

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