A dog believed to have been stolen and trained to fight has been reunited with his owner.
American Bully Sniper went missing from his owner's back garden in South Yorkshire on 12 December, sparking a sustained campaign to find the pet.
Now, the five-month-old has at last been returned to his owner.
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"Sniper is now home and back in my arms," the owner confirmed on Facebook.
The 21-year-old said he couldn't go into details about how the dog was found, as the disappearance is still being investigated by police; however, he said vets had been treating his 'traumatised and underweight dog', with injuries indicating he was being trained to fight.
A post on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Sniper read: "He has many scars over his body which leads us to believe he was sadly being taught to fight.
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"We are busy gathering all our information including a vets report to hand over to the police. Charges hopefully will be made and we are pushing for an arrest.
"The family are taking good care of Sniper and taking things slowly to gain his trust. The family have lived through their darkest hours without their boy.
"You gave them the hope and belief they would be holding their boy again."
LADbible has contacted South Yorkshire Police for an update on the investigation.
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In October, a family was reunited with their dog five years after she was stolen.
French bulldog Roxie was just 18 weeks old when she was pinched from Shona Macleod's front garden in Carlisle back in March 2017.
After going so long without her, the family naturally assumed they would never see Roxie again, but on 30 October - her fifth birthday - she was spotted mooching through Rickerby Park by the council's stray dog team.
Thankfully, she was microchipped and the council were able to return Roxie to her astonished family.
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Mum-of-three Shona told the BBC: "I thought it was my new dog that had escaped from the garden when I saw the council worker with a dog at the door.
"I cried my eyes out when I realised it was Roxie."
Indeed, the family had changed a fair bit in the four years and eight months since Roxie was nicked.
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There are now two more children for Roxie to get used to, as well as Bear - another French bulldog bought earlier last year.
But Shona said Roxie settled 'like she's never been away'.
She added: "Bear is much bigger but quite dopey and just loves Roxie, they're both getting on together so well."
Jake Massey