A man who learned online that a dog had been dumped at the side of a road didn’t hesitate and jumped straight in his car to help.
The rescuer, who posts to online under the username @billybeers, shared a video of himself standing in a rural area where the dog had been “dumped” in his crate.
He explains in the clip that someone had posted an alert on a local Facebook group saying that the animal had been abandoned in the area, “so I came up and got him.”
The man then shows off the large dog, now safely in his vehicle, and calls him a “sweet boy,” scratching the calm-looking animal under the jaw.
The video has racked up over 295 million views and more than 47,000 likes since being posted on December 12, with animal lovers despairing over the abandoned pup. One viewer said that they “just don’t understand how people can be so cruel.”
Another commenter wrote: “Please let me catch someone do this.” But the man kept an open mind about the previous owners, writing: “You don’t always know the circumstances and I’m sure this was really tough.”
Research from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) estimated that around 6.12 million households rehome their pets every five years.
These animals are mostly likely given to a friend or family member, closely followed by being given up to a shelter.
The 2015 survey also found that for people who are renting, the number one reason they may be forced to give up a pet was linked to housing. Those on lower incomes cited housing or the significant cost of a pet as a reason for giving it up.
The man has since shared regular updates on the dog, who he brought home in the hopes of finding him a new family or finding out what had happened to his owners.
In one video, he said it appeared the dog had been well-loved, as the crate he was found in came with warm, heavy blankets. The dog also knew multiple commands and was friendly toward other animals.
“Who knows why people dump their dogs,” he says in one clip. “But I think there were tears involved with this one. Hopefully we can find him a lovely home.”
Later updates revealed the dog had been microchipped, and when the chip was checked out they learned his name was Beluga—which the pup instantly reacted to.
They were working toward finding and potentially contacting Beluga’s original owners based on his chip information, the man said, adding that he had a potential foster family lined up if that didn’t work out.
In the most recent update, posted on January 14 and showing the dog napping on a dog bed in the sun, his rescuer called Beluga “a gem of a creature” and said: “I think we’re probably going to add him to our pack.”
He again called for compassion for the previous owners and suggested that abandoning Beluga “was their last ditch effort to try to save something that they loved.”
“I really wish I knew more about the situation, because I’d really like to try to help them if we could and let them know their dog is OK,” he said.
