Seven-year-old German shepherd Kiryusha climbed out of a grave in the forest after being buried alive and left to death by his owners, then ran straight to the nearest road.
Driver Olga Lystseva, 39, drove past Kiryusha as he passed slowly in the rain on the highways in the south of Russia. Originally a dog lover, she could not stop thinking about the pitiful animal and decided to return, travel nearly 15 km long to save Kiryusha.
Olga then found Kiryusha lying on the side of the road in exhaustion. She found some food for Kiryusha and picked him up and put him in the car. The dog slept 150 km to Ukhta, where Olga gave Kiryusha to a dog rescue center called Kind City.
Volunteers here started sharing pictures of the pitiful dog on social media and quickly discovered it was from the town of Yemva. His owner, a couple, initially said that they decided to bury the dog because he was “not well”.
Both admitted to having injected a drug into Kiryusha’s body for wanting to kill him, then buried in a remote area near the Ukhta-Syktyvkar highway. However, after conducting a series of tests, the veterinarian found that Kiryusha had no serious illnesses and was healthy, other than showing signs of starvation. Kind City said the couple later claimed they “accidentally” buried Kiryusha alive and apologized for acting like that.
“Thanks to Ms. Olga, Kiryusha has started a new life. At the center, he is very quiet, rarely aggressive with other dogs and does not bark loudly. The animal is also very gentle with humans“, Ekaterina Nimak, of the Kind City dog rescue center, said.
According to local television station, Kiryusha has now been adopted by a family in Ukhta-Syktyvkar.
