Seeing these shocking photos, it’s hard to believe that there is a frightened little dog under all that black tar.

Last month, whilst walking down a street in Lanus, Argentina, two boys discovered a stray dog, completely covered in the thick substance. It’s still not clear whether he fell into the tar himself or if someone had deliberately coated him, but the dog was urgently in need of rescuing.

Barely able to move, the dog was taking to a veterinary clinic by the boys and a police officer, where volunteers from the Zoonosis Lanus shelter were called in to help. Volunteers took five hours to clean all the tar off.

One volunteer, Myriam Ortellado, said, “We bought a lot of things, we watched tutorials on the Internet, and we were checking all the products. Firstly, it was impossible to clean it, and then we started using oil and step by step it worked, but we used five litres of oil.”

Vets were also concerned about possible intoxication, as tar was found in his ears, nostrils and intestines.

The dog, named Petro by volunteers – short for petroleum – began to recover and a statement released by the rescue shortly afterwards said Petro was getting stronger by the day.

More good news followed a few days later. Petro, renamed Roman, had found a new home and was in good health.

Myriam Ortellado said, “Thank you Angelica for giving him a home so beautiful, and thank you girls for always being there for him, from the beginning. Beautiful Petro, may you be very very happy.”