On a cold day in Michigan, screeching winds and frigid rain battered an abandoned cardboard box on the side of a rural road.

Thankfully, a Good Samaritan spotted the box and peered inside, finding eight tiny puppies curled up for warmth. The anonymous helper immediately called for assistance, and an Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department deputy sprang into action to get the pups to safety before the weather worsened.

“When they arrived, they were freezing,” Jen Self-Aulgur, executive director of Harbor Humane Society, told The Dodo. “Two of their temperatures didn’t even register on a thermometer because they were below 90 degrees.”

A loving staff member took those two puppies home to stay up through the night warming and feeding them. A vet later found that they had pneumonia but are currently being nursed back to health.

“They would not have survived the night in that weather,” a Facebook post read. “They were soaking wet with low temperatures and a couple are still in critical condition, but we are hopeful that they all will pull through.”

All of the 4-week-old puppies are now recovering in experienced foster homes, where they are getting round-the-clock care.

“These next few weeks are critical for them and because we don’t know where they came from or what their conditions were like,” Self-Aulger said. “We will be watching closely for any side effects from their exposure when they were left out in the elements. But for now, they are eating, drinking, playing and getting to be normal puppies!”

These adorable babies aren’t available for adoption just yet. They’ll continue to be monitored until they’re fully healthy and thriving. Once that happens, they’ll be looking for loving families of their own.

“It breaks our hearts that things happened this way,” the Facebook post continued. “Had they reached out to Harbor, we would have been more than willing to help, and this dangerous situation could have been avoided.”