A distressing sound greeted Malisa Vendorpool and her fiancé Robert when they returned home Saturday night.

"We came back home around ten thirty, ten forty-five, and, I heard an animal barking and howling. "

The couple heard the noises throughout the night and into the next morning, when Melisa's fiancé went into the backyard to check it out.

"So he started walking around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, cause he realized obviously it wasn't coming from that neighbor over there. "

That's Melisa's fiancé realized the noise was coming from the other side of this fence. When he hopped up and looked over, he saw much to his shock, a dog buried alive.

"And I quickly determined that we needed to call Animal Control and call dispatch and then send, you know, send the officer out. "

"It's was a dog whose muzzle was just sticking out of the ground barely enough to breathe."

Animal Control officer Ginger Lee and the neighbors went into the backyard of this Jackson Street home dug out this 5-year-old male bullmastiff and got it to the emergency veterinarian.

"So he is doing much better today. He couldn't do anything for himself yesterday when the officers got him out. It was questionable of whether he's been live it at the first time."

"The dog appears to be on the mat, but why he was ever buried and by whom is still under investigation. "

"I have never seen anything like this and I have been in this business for 11 years. I have seen a lot of cruelty cases --- this situation were someone could do this, and to me it was unfathomable."

Greg Neumann Channel Tree News.