Andres Fabricio Argandoña Tapia was driving his train through Llay Llay, a place located in the Valparaíso Region of Chile, when he spotted a dark mass on the tracks ahead. When the object on the tracks didn’t move, the eagle-eyed conductor slammed on the brakes.
It turns out that few feet in front of the train was a little black and brown dog. Tapia got out of the train, filming the animal on his phone as he approached.
As soon as he spotted the conductor, the little dog tugged at the chain that tethered him to the tracks, happily barking and wagging his tail. Tapia was sickened at the thought of what would’ve happened had he not stopped the train.
“How can there be such bad people who have tied little dogs to the road? Hopefully, one day, the human race will change,” Tapia commented in his video.
Tapia posted the video of the dog’s rescue to his Facebook account on Monday, where it has since received over 300,000 views. While the video ends not long after discovering the dog, Tapia states that he unchained him and set him free.
“At the end, the puppy let go and went happy,” Tapia wrote in a Facebook comment.
In response to the viral video, Edgardo Gonzalez, the mayor of Llay Llay, stated that he is launching a criminal investigation in hopes of bringing whoever abandoned the dog to justice.
“We are shocked by the cruelty seen in our society, and strongly condemn this act against such a defenseless animal,” Gonzalez said to local media outlet La Republica. “We appreciate the attitude that the driver had, who saved the life of this pet.”
Gonzalez added, “As a municipality, we will take the corresponding actions [to bring] a lawsuit against those responsible and we will also contact the engineer to offer all our help to provide this little puppy with veterinary medical care, microchips, deworming and sterilization.”
If the dog is found, the mayor has said that they will do their best to find the little puppy a loving adoptive home.
The response to the video has been overwhelming positive, with thousands of comments expressing thanks to the kind conductor for stopping to save the helpless little dog’s life.
Tapia responded on Facebook, “You know that we railwaymen are of good heart.”
This operator stop the train to save a dog that was tied up to the tracks???????????????? pic.twitter.com/RchzBYiD0i
— marie pechova (@pechova_marie) June 18, 2019
