This is the heartwarming moment five newborn puppies were rescued after being dumped in a pond and floating inside a rubbish bag.

Jirawat Sivachokjutikul, who lives nearby, heard whimpering sounds from the pond in Samut Prakan province on January 10.

The area was dark so he flashed a torch searching for the sounds until he saw the plastic in the water.

He said: ‘I heard sounds of dogs whimpering so I went closer to have a look.

‘I noticed the garbage bag moving in the water so I was confident there were dogs inside.’

The concerned resident did not know how to swim so he called the animal rescuers for help.

A brave rescue volunteer waded through the dirty water to pull the bag to dry land.

When the rescuers opened the bag, they found five puppies who were still alive, but one of them did not survive.

Water had entered the bag, which may have drowned one of the puppies. The bag was also sealed tightly, limiting the air two breathe with five panicking pooches inside.

The rescued puppies were cleaned before being taken to a nearby veterinary clinic for a health assessment.