Howard Davis, Ohio man who abandoned 6 puppies in suitcase, forgot to remove luggage tags with his ID, police say

(CBS/AP) TOLEDO, Ohio - Authorities say an Ohio man accused of zipping six bulldog-mix puppies into a suitcase and leaving it next to a trash bin, forgot to remove the luggage tag bearing his name and contact information.

Howard Davis, 53, now faces two misdemeanor charges of animal abandonment, according to court records. The Toledo man was not arrested.

"It's unfortunate he chose to abandon the dogs," said John Dinon, the Humane Society's executive director. "If he had just called us and said he couldn't care for them, we would have taken them and he wouldn't have been charged with a crime.

Passers-by found the suitcase containing the three female and three male puppies outside a business on April 4, authorities said. They were about 4 weeks old.

The mother matches the description of a dog licensed to Davis and was identified as his dog by people who also said he had been trying to sell the puppies, Dinon said.

Davis told a Humane Society officer that he had given the dogs to someone in neighboring Michigan and had not abandoned them, Dinon said.

The puppies were in good shape so they must have been found shortly after they were left, Dinon said. The mother was a bit thin, he said, but that's not unusual for a dog nursing puppies.

The dogs will be sent to a foster home until they are ready for adoption.

Davis is now scheduled to appear in Toledo Municipal Court on April 13.