A puppy that was fighting grave illness after being discovered in a plastic bag in a Coachella Valley dumpster.

For the second time in less than a month, a puppy was found inside a plastic bag in a Coachella Valley trash bin, this time badly burned and with part of his tail severed, and now, animal rights activists in California are searching for answers.

Since the heartbreaking discovery, Sherman Oaks Animal Rescue has been caring for the two-week-old mixed-breed pup and is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can help them find the person who burned and dumped the pup.

On Sunday afternoon, Alejandra Espínoza Zazυeta told PEOPLE that her mother noticed some customers digging through the trash can outside the jewelry store where she works at Coachella.

Though customers were looking for something she had accidentally dropped, Zazeta says her mother was shocked when they pulled out the plastic Walmart bag containing the crying pup, now renamed Hope for “the fighter that she is.”

The find was particularly upsetting because it was the second time Tracie had discovered a plastic bag containing puppies inside a dumpster in the Coachella Valley. (Last month, Deborah Sue Cυlwell was accused of dumping seven puppies in a sealed plastic bag into a dumpster.)

“My mom didn’t know what else to do besides call me,” Zazυeta recalls of arriving at the scene and finding the puppy covered in third-degree burns on his skin from mid-calf down to his back legs. “We didn’t know if he was going to survive.”

After carefully transferring Hope to the towel inside the small box, Zazυeta said she called the Sheriff’s Department and Animal Control to report the incident and sought help on social media.

Meanwhile, Zazυeta knew Hope needed immediate medical attention and took her to a local veterinarian after Los Angeles Dodgers beat reporter Alaпa Rizzo offered to help collect funds for the pup’s medical treatment.

“[Hope] smelled horrible and we discovered that her skin was completely rotted away on her back,” Zazυeta explains. “We had to remove it surgically.”

Due to the expense of treating the puppy, the injured dog was transferred to Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, a charity based in Sherman Oaks.

“I was running like crazy to Los Angeles, trying to get her there as fast as possible because her medication was going to expire in two hours,” Zazυeta said of her three-plus-hour drive from Coachella. “She did suffer a little bit getting there, but once she did, she was taken care of immediately.”

While there, medical staff at McGrath Veterinary Center were called and determined that Hope’s severe burns were likely spontaneous, with owner Brian McGrath telling PEOPLE they were caused by contact with hot objects or “corrosive chemicals.”

“She had severe burns covering approximately 30 percent of her body, causing her skin to peel off,” he said. “This type of injury is caused by either severe thermal burns or exposure to corrosive chemicals.”

“He is still very weak,” she adds. “At this stage, he is prone to infection, so he needs daily wound care, as well as fluids, antibiotics and pain medication. So far, he has been responding fantastically to treatment and after a long road, we hope for a full recovery.”

The puppy, who is still unable to walk, currently remains in intensive care with 24-hour monitoring while she recovers from her injuries.

By the morning of the young man, Zazυeta said Hope was doing much better, with increased energy and more mobility.

Although her back legs still have little to no movement, Zazeta tells PEOPLE there’s a chance the pup could become paralyzed, which she’s perfectly fine with as Hope’s former owner, as she plans to adopt her when she’s well enough to return home.

“We are completely fine with that, we are more than willing to take her in,” he explains, noting that he might be able to get her the wheelchair if it turns out that the young dog cannot use her hind legs.

“She has a home and we are eagerly waiting for her,” Zazυeta adds. “We have everything [for her], we are ready and we are just waiting for the day when she calls us and tells us that we can come and pick her up.”

“In addition, the Animal Hope Foundation and Wellness Foundation are reviewing the security images around the base to find out who put Hope on the base and have publicly endorsed the $10,000 reward for their website.

“We will do everything we can to hold whoever did this accountable, but we will need the public’s help,”

As she waits to bring Hope home, Zazυeta struggles to understand how someone could do this to her innocent pup.

“It’s cruel, I honestly don’t understand how a person could do this to helpless puppies,” she says. “I’m shocked, upset and angry that this happened.”

“I just want [Hope] to feel loved, that’s all I want,” Zazυeta adds, emotionally. “I want her to know that a lot of people care about her and that she’s safe with me and I can promise her that it will happen again.”