Film star Jean-Claude van Damme was heavily involved in a petition that ended with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority sending a puppy to Bulgaria, rather than killing it.
According to the New York Times, the Belgian action star received news of a petition to save the puppy’s life and shared an emotional appeal on his Facebook page.
The three-month-old chihuahua Raya was bought by Norwegian Alexey Iversen from Bulgaria, but when the dog arrived in Norway, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority quickly concluded that the animal passport and other documentation were not valid.
Shortly afterward, Iversen was informed that the puppy would be killed.
He acknowledged that he should have checked the documentation before buying the dog but took up the fight to save the dog’s life.
Online petition
A lawyer managed to postpone the killing until October, and Iversen started an online petition, which somehow reached van Damme.
“We can not kill the little chihuahua,” famous dog lover van Damme said while holding his own chihuahua.
Nearly 200,000 people responded to the video, and van Damme also offered to pay all costs associated with rescuing the three-month-old puppy.
Shortly afterward, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority announced that the puppy would be sent to the country of origin, Bulgaria.
It is not known if Iversen will be reunited with Raya.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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