A 39-year-old man was arrested by police for wantonly stabbing his dog, which he was trying to bury alive.
The visibly drunk 30-year-old attacked the dog, a Malinois sheepdog, with a bladed weapon before going into the garden to dig a hole to bury his dog alive.
In late February, neighbors who had witnessed the incident were alerted by noise in this quiet neighborhood of Hautmont in France's Nord department in the middle of the night and immediately called the police.
Police officers dispatched to the scene arrested the suspect drunk as he attempted to bury his seriously injured dog, local newspaper La Voix du reported.
The dog's owner, who was in police custody, was due to appear before a judge at the Avesnes-du-Helpe court, putting him at risk of being charged with animal cruelty.
Although we don't know the severity of his injuries, the Malinois sheepdog was still rescued after he was taken to an animal hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, French media said.