What would you do if you encountered an animal that was being abused? We don’t just mean a stray on the side of the road, either, or an animal in the circus or a zoo on the other side of the country. We’re talking a little bit closer to home today, in those tough situations where you might actually know the people committing the abuse— like, for example, your neighbors? What would you do then?

That’s the situation in which the neighbors of this poor, beautiful dog found themselves. The pup – eventually known as Alfie – spent essentially his entire life chained outside his poor excuse for a home, malnourished, neglected, and always alone. Imagine, if you can bear it, if every time you looked out your window, you saw this:

If you’re thinking to yourself that the dog in this photo looks a lot younger than the one in the photo up above, you’d be correct. They are, tragically, the same dog. When we say that Alfie spent his entire life chained up outside, we mean it. From the time he was a puppy, his abusive owners left him outside, and didn’t appear to care for him at all. Why they got a dog in the first place is anybody’s guess, but they certainly didn’t seem to want him once they had him.

“Well, wait,” we can hear you asking. “If these pictures are available, that means evidence was available. Why didn’t somebody do something before?” We wondered the same exact thing, and it turns out that the neighbors, watching this abuse and growing increasingly concerned, attempted to contact their local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), according to Animal Advocates Society. For unknown reasons, the SPCA was either unable or unwilling to remove Alfie from the situation. So the neighbors were faced with a moral dilemma. What would you have done— especially when you saw things escalate to THIS level?

Yes, that’s duct tape around Alfie’s mouth, which apparently was applied by his abusive owners when Alfie barked and begged for an ounce of care and attention. This atrocious act – which is not only painful for the dog, but also clearly intended to starve him – was the last straw for Alfie’s neighbors. Realizing that the authorities were not going to step in, they decided the right thing to do was jump the fence.

Yes, Alfie was rescued, by neighbors and good Samaritans who had finally had enough of standing by and merely witnessing animal abuse. Of course, having been treated so horribly for so long, it took a little while for Alfie to adjust to and accept the kind of care he should have had all along, but once he did, he led a full, happy, wonderful life, complete with a canine companion.

Alfie has since gone on to cross over the “rainbow bridge,” but his story lives on as a reminder and a challenge to us all. We are responsible for and to our fellow creatures, and while we’d all like to think we’d step in and do the right thing, it can be harder to get up the courage to actually do it. Still, lives are literally in the balance. So imagine you were living next to Alfie, and the SPCA wouldn’t do anything, and tell us, honestly—

What would you have done?

Learn more about Alfie and other animal rescue “Happy Endings” at the site for Animal Advocates Society