Brazil police rescue dog becomes internet sensation
This image provided by the Brazilian television network Globo shows a man holding a dog as police officers search for the missing dog in an apartment in Brazil’s northern state of Parana on Friday, February 15, 2014. Police announced today that the missing dog was still alive and on the loose in the northern city of Arriflex, where police detained a man for questioning. Earlier he allegedly shot his dog dead, then attempted to dump it. The dog, named Buddy, was found in a nearby forest and was rushed to the police station for rehabilitation. The man’s name has not been released. (AP/Globo TV)
PARANA, Brazil (AP) — The first dog rescue story on Brazilian television captured the attention of the nation like no other.
A man and a woman are now facing the death penalty and possibly prison time on suspicion of kidnapping a dog and murdering it.
Police said Thursday that they have arrested three people suspected of abducting the dogs and trying to hide them to avoid the country’s strict animal protection laws.
Brazilian television station Globo reported that the man and woman were identified as Roberto Luiz da Silva and Ana Elizabeth Alves de Souza, while the dog was named Buddy.
But their identities have not been made public.
Globo TV said police found the mutilated and bloodied dog stuffed inside a suitcase in an apartment on Tuesday.
It showed footage of a man carrying the suitcase into the street as a woman waited by another car, but the station later said it did not have any evidence connecting the two.
The station quoted “friends” as saying the woman was the owner of the dog and that it was found with its eyes open.
Police in Arriguzza, a city in the north of Brazil’s Parana state, gave no description of the woman and were looking for more information about the dog.
The station said the woman was being sought at the police station in Arriguzza.
The station said the woman was in the country illegally and that police were seeking her immigration status. She reportedly lives in the city of Urucun, a small town about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of the state capital of Belo Horizonte.
The station said police had asked residents for help in their search for the dog
