For a lone dog, the view from the third floor must have been a kind of suffering of its own. No matter how far she could see, Bella couldn’t dream of leaving this place. Not with a thick and rusty chain around the neck. This shabby third-floor balcony in Cairo, Egypt was everything she’d ever known.
Until she took a terrible opportunity and decided to jump down. Passers-by heard her terrible hiss as the dog dangled helplessly from the balcony, the chain biting her neck mercilessly.
However, it almost took too long to get help. “We think she was on the balcony for about five hours,” said Lauren Connelly of Special Needs Rescue and Rehabilitation (SNARR), a US-based rescue group. When someone finally entered the apartment and hauled her up, Bella was barely alive. The wound on her neck was very severe. She was bone thin.
A local animal rescue organization, the Egyptian Animal Mercy Association (ESMA), took her under its wing, receiving her much-needed medical attention. And, perhaps most importantly, they gave Bella a lifeline to SNARR around the world, specializing in emergencies, which are often difficult.
The two groups regularly coordinate rescues, combining dogs in desperate circumstances in Egypt with families in the United States. In May 2015, Bella flew further than she could have imagined from her festering old balcony. A woman in Massachusetts agreed to raise her. Since then, she couldn’t find a home.
Baby Bella is almost 2 years old this year, living in Houston, Texas. With some humans and a new doggy. “She’s completely recovered. You never know it happened,” Connelly said. “She’s spoiled.” And it’s well worth it.