Dog abandoned next to highway left with note requesting 'good care'

New York State troopers rescued an adult dog tied to a pole along the Southern State Parkway on Monday morning and recovered a note requesting she receive “good care.”

Troopers responding about 5:30 a.m. to reports of a dog leashed to a light pole arrived to find a white female bull mastiff along the westbound parkway near Exit 21 in Uniondale, according to a news release. Police found the dog alongside a bowl filled with food and a note, handwritten in all-capital letters.

“This is 'Roxi,' a trained American bull mastiff,” the note reads. “She is four years old. She has been fed and given a flea bath, she may still have issues with them. See that she gets good care.”

Ray Quinones, a motor equipment operator for the Village of Garden City sanitation department, was heading to work about 5:15 a.m. Monday when he first saw Roxi, pulled over and approached.

Quinones, 61, wanted to pet the pooch “so bad,” but resisted, he said.

“When I first got there she was yelping for help,” said Quinones, of Bay Shore. “She got happy when I approached her, her ears went right down, wagging her tail, but as I got even closer, that’s when I could see she got nervous and that’s when I kept my distance.”

After exploring the area near the exit ramp for Roxi's possible human companion, Quinones said he dialed 911. He waited with Roxi, the same breed as "Butkus," Rocky Balboa's pet dog and sometime training partner in "Rocky" and "Rocky II," trying to “calm her down” until troopers arrived.

Police delivered Roxi to the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter about 8 a.m. Monday, according to Town of Hempstead director of communications Brian Devine.

“The dog was seen by our medical team and through the course of his exam, the vet found her to be snappy, skittish and very nervous — rightfully so given everything she had been through only a few short hours earlier,” Devine said in an email.

After his shift ended Tuesday afternoon, Quinones visited Roxi at the shelter. He wasn't sure she recognized him. Quinones said he'd like to think she did.

“Her ears went right down when she looked at me and her eyes went wide,” he said. “She was calm but very nervous because she doesn’t know what’s going on yet.”

Although Quinones was unable to adopt Roxi, many of his friends who came across photos he took of her and posted on Facebook expressed interest in giving the dog a home.

“She seems like an amazing, amazing dog,” he said.

State police were investigating and asked anyone with information to call 631-756-3300.