By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — A pit bull found abandoned on the Williamsburg Bridge during this week's snowstorm is close to finding a new home after a pair of concerned New Yorkers took the dog in and used a popular blog to publicize the pooch's plight.
The doe-eyed pup was discovered Wednesday morning chained to the bridge's pedestrian walkway by a friend of blogger Nick Carr, who runs the popular city site Scouting NY.
The apparently ownerless pup was discovered "shivering, completely drenched and half-frozen" on the span connecting the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, Carr wrote in a Thursday plea on his blog to help find the dog a new home.
Carr, 28, explained that he could not adopt the dog himself, and that he understands this particular breed has a history of being aggressive and sometimes violent.
But that hasn't stopped concerned dog lovers around the city — and the world — from coming to the pooch's rescue.
"The most promising thing is that there has definitely a been a solid group of people in New York City interested in taking it," Carr told DNAinfo, noting that "hundreds of thousands" of people had seen the story, and that actress Alyssa Milano tweeted the news out to her 1.2-million-plus followers.
"A guy in India wrote in to say he'd love to take the dog," the blogger said, adding that he's also received inquiries from as far away as Athens, Greece, and California, Texas and Florida.
Carr initially contacted animal-adoption agencies to see if they could take the dog, but he explained that the "no kill" shelters he spoke with — ones that promise not to euthanize pets unless they are sick or hostile — told him they couldn't accept a pit bull.
Not wanting to send the canine to a shelter that could end up putting it down, he took his story online and has been amazed by the response.
"It's insane," he said of the feedback so far, which includes nearly 300 comments and counting, responding to his blog post. "I'm blown away."
Carr already took the female pooch to a veterinarian, who estimated the dog was between 1 and 2 years old and in good health.
He explained that despite the breed's reputation, the dog was well-behaved, obedient and "very friendly and playful."
"I'm a huge dog lover, but I don't have much experience with pit bulls," Carr said, noting that he initially kept his distance because he feared the dog might snap and bite him.
"It's just a very gentle dog, and it basically just curled up and slept," he said, adding he was told the pup is actually half pit bull and half labrador retriever. "So far it's just been the nicest dog."
Carr said his friend, who is currently housing the dog, would be meeting with interested individuals today to find a good fit for the pooch.
And after what Carr witnessed with the animal shelters, he stressed the need for would-be dog owners to go through the shelter system to find pets that otherwise would be killed.
"There are others out there," he said. "Just please think about looking into adopting another pit bull that needs your love just as much as this one does."
