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After being violently abducted on the streets of Paris last month, a young puppy finally returned to his caretaker, a loving homeless man.
The puppy was reunited with his owner on Friday after Antony Blanchard, president of the France-based animal welfare group Cause Animale Nord, admitted to the organization's wrongdoing in the theft of the homeless man's puppy.
A video of the incident quickly swept across the internet in late September and brought worldwide attention to this unjust seizure.
In the footage, activists from Cause Animale Nord can be seen pushing and shoving the man aside in order to snatch the puppy away. Both the man and dog were manhandled and can be heard wailing during the traumatic encounter.
A petition to return the dog to his owner received over 80,000 signatures within a few hours of the video being posted to Facebook. Today, the numbers have risen to more than 240,000.
Although the petition may have had something to do with Blanchard's decision to return the puppy, there were other factors at play. The group was facing possible legal repercussions for its actions, and Blanchard himself was summoned for police questioning.
After a brief stay with a foster family in the nearby French municipality of Wattignies, the puppy and his owner are now back together.
They may still not have a home or very much else to call their own. But at least the two once again have each other.