Richard Piquard, a 24-year-old Whitinsville man, was arraigned in Uxbridge District Court on one count of animal cruelty Tuesday and remains free on $1,000 bail. On Sunday at 12:20 p.m., Northbridge Police Department received a call from Kaylee Belanger, who had found a dog buried alive. After being taken to Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, the 17-year-old Shih Tzu had to be euthanized. Belanger wrote in a Facebook post that Piquard - a family friend - had messaged her the morning of Sunday saying the dog, Chico, had passed away the night before.
Suspicious about the circumstances surrounding the dog's death, Belanger wrote that she asked Piquard where he had buried Chico so she could dig him up to have him cremated. After about half an hour of searching the woods with her fiance, Belanger wrote that they had located the spot Piquard had described. "We started to dig with a stick and soon heard a noise," she wrote. "My fiance then noticed a small patch of fresh dirt under some brush. Hesitantly, I continued to move the dirt when we noticed fur. We uncovered a portion of Chico's head, only to discover that a rock had been placed on top of him. I removed the rock and there he was. I stepped back to grab a blanket, when my fiance shouted, 'He's breathing!!'".
Belanger recounted how she took Chico out of the hole and hurried him to Tufts. She reported that the dog seemed to be unable to move his head or stand up, presumably due to a dislocated disk in his neck, but noted that he became more responsive after a few hours. Eventually, Belanger said that the decision was made to put Chico to sleep.
At his arraignment, Piquard was instructed to allow the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals entry into his home.