Dog Poisoned And Buried Alive - Back From Dead

A Jack Russell terrier has had a "miraculous" escape in France after being poisoned and buried alive on his third birthday.

Ethan was dug up by a man who saw the ground moving - an apparent result of convulsions from the dog's poisoning.

Firefighters then rushed the trembling, dirt-covered terrier to a vet who managed to nurse the dog back to life.

"It's extraordinary. We only see this in TV movies," said veterinarian Philippe Michon.

"He came back to life and without a scratch. It's rather miraculous."

The vet said the dog was "completely cold" and "barely breathing" when he was brought in.

He used hot water bottles to warm up Ethan's seemingly lifeless body.

The dog was so cold his veins had collapsed and it was hard to find one to hydrate him, but within 24 hours the terrier was back on his feet.

"(Ethan) had an unbelievable chain of luck. If the ground hadn't trembled, no one would have taken a shovel to it," the vet added.

His owner says he had given the dog away but police are investigating, said Sabrina Zamora, president of an animal association in Charleville-Mezieres, a town 125 miles northeast of Paris.

She described Ethan as being as "flat as a pancake" when he was discovered on Tuesday near a lakeside pedestrian path.