When a family or individual gets a pet, more often than not it is for selfish reasons. We expect the animal to give us company, look cute, and be there for us when we need them. We also expect them to be low maintenance in terms of time and money. If they do fall ill or we simply get bored of them, sometimes these pets are left abandoned. But in this case, the owner did something unimaginably cruel…
Pedro Dinis, was walking his dog named Goddess, in Carrieres-sur-Seine, just west of Paris, when he noticed a dog’s head jutting out of the earth. The dog was completely buried in dirt — it was really a sad sight. This dog was obviously a fighter and had not given up easily. She had somehow managed to push her head up above the ground so she could at least continue breathing.
Dinis came across the gruesome sight as he walked his own dog.
Only her dirt-laden head was visible; she was fortunate that Dinis spotted her amidst the earth that surrounded her.
Dinis quickly got to work digging her out, and noticed that the dog had a rope tied around her neck.
It was extremely obvious that the dog had not fallen into some hole in the ground accidentally. She had been deliberately and cruelly buried alive.
Pedro wondered: Who would commit such an act of cruelty? Why not just take the dog to an animal shelter or give it away to someone? But this owner had gone to great lengths to make sure the poor dog would die — this female mastiff would never have been able to free herself.
But this fate was not to be!
We wonder what her life must have been like, before the owner took this drastic step of getting rid of her forever! But then, it was another human named Pedro Dinis, who saved her.
Dinis got a helping hand from his own dog to liberate the mastiff from its intended grave. The tiny dog used all his might and helped dig with his claws to release his potential new friend before it was too late.
Athena, as the mastiff was called, revealed more gruesome facts as she was dug out. Dinis and his dog dug, dug, and dug until they discovered something even more shocking.
The rope tied around Athena’s neck was tied to a sack filled with gravel. The weight of the sack would make sure the poor dog had no chance of digging herself out and surviving.
By the time Dinis and his dog got Athena out, she was in a state of shock, extremely depressed and dehydrated. Dinis pulled out his water bottle and gave her a much needed drink.
Dinis cleaned up her face. He was growing extremely concerned about the poor soul. He was still coming to terms with the fact that someone could actually go to such lengths to hurt another living being. Dinis quickly contacted emergency services in France, and Athena was taken to the nearest veterinary clinic. He had also taken pictures of the scene and shared the harrowing experience on Facebook.
Based on the dog’s physical state and the level of stress it displayed, it seemed like the dog had been buried for several hours before she was rescued.
Athena did not have a microchip, which made it difficult to track down her cruel and abusive owner. But she did have a tattoo, and that helped the authorities locate her former owner.
The 21-year-old was taken into custody, but he claimed that the dog had run away on her own. The authorities called his bluff as they realized the 10-year-old mastiff suffered from arthritis and couldn’t have dug a hole and trapped herself. This was also considered as a possible reason why she was abandoned in the first place.
The owner was slapped with a $31,000 fine for animal cruelty, and could wind up with a 2-year prison sentence. Dinis and locals felt that he deserved much stronger punishment for such cruelty and have petitioned for a larger penalty.
Athena, on the other hand, now lives happily with a dog rescue group called SOS Dogue de Bordeaux — along with a bunch of adoptive canine siblings and two loving owners by the name of Jean-Pierre and Raymonde Delfosse.
All is not lost; many humans still exhibit great humanity! Dinis said of the rescue, “I was in the right place at the right time to save a life.”
