Photos of a French mastiff buried alive up to its head recently surfaced and ignited an outpouring of rage on social media on Wednesday. The photos were taken by Pedro Dinis, who rescued the dog on Saturday while walking through Carrieres-sur-Seine, west of Paris, reported Yahoo News.
Upon posting the photos to Facebook on Wednesday, Denis commented: "Only her head was visible and it was difficult to see given the amount of earth covering her."
A police source said that the dog was "shocked and dehydrated" before emergency services arrived and took her to a clinic for treatment; she suffers from arthritis and a skin condition.
The dog's 21-year-old owner was eventually tracked down and taken into custody, although he told the police that the dog was stolen and he had nothing to do with the incident. Police determined that the story was not plausible and placed charges against him.
Dinis claimed that he did not believe that anyone would find the dog. One of the biggest factors in helping investigators locate the accused man was a tattoo on the dog's body, reported the Dodo.
The owner is currently facing animal cruelty charges which could land him up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 30,000 euros ($32,600), reported the Mirror.
A current online petition is pushing for a maximum sentence to be imposed on the owner - as of Wednesday, the petition has 135,000 signatures.
