This is the heartwarming moment dog owners find their beloved pet shortly before it was butchered after it was kidnapped off the street.

The couple had gone to the home of the dog dealer after learning that the pet might have ended up there following a spate of disappearances in the area and was delighted and also shocked to find it caged and ready to be butchered.

The incident reportedly happened at the dealer’s home in Suzhou, which is a major prefecture-level city in China’s Jiangsu Province.

It is not revealed if police are looking into the incident and whether they accompanied the couple, who have not been named, on their search of the property on 29th May.

The footage shows the man looking through the pitiful sight of caged dogs before suddenly coming across his beloved pet in a packed cage with his pet apparently recognising him and barking enthusiastically to be rescued.

They can be heard shouting: “Found it, it’s here!” as the footage ends.

Online commentators like ‘Xuan’ said: “I hope the other dogs in the cage can find their owners too.”

And user ‘Qianqian’ said: “But the other dogs may spend their whole lives in cages. I really hope there are kind people who can save them all.”

While the user ‘Dog Nier Wang Lao Ba’ said: “The chance of finding it is really one in ten thousand, so you must keep an eye on your furry child.”