DOG BELLA TIED TO ROCK AND THROWN IN RIVER FINALLY FINDS LOVING OWNERS
LOCAL WOMAN HAS BEEN SEEKING JUSTICE FOR POOCH AFTER EX-OWNER’S ‘INSULTING SENTENCE’
A DOG who nearly drowned after being thrown into a river with a rock tied to her collar has now found a loving new home. Bella, a German Shepherd, was rescued from the cold waters in the River Trent in January last year. Heroic Jane Harper noticed her struggling to keep her head above the water and managed to drag her out to safety.
It was then she realised Bella had been tied to a huge rock and left to drown.
Her former owner, Charlene Latham, had attached the rock to her collar.
Thankfully, Bella survived the ordeal but it was later discovered she had a range of complex health needs.
After spending 15 months in rehabilitation with the RSPCA, Bella is now recovered and has been rehomed to a retired couple in South Derbyshire. Maggie Mellish, 79, and Charlie Douglas, 70, submitted their interest in rehoming Bella following a TV appeal.
Charlie told the Daily Mail: “We were horrified by what happened to Bella and when we came to see her we realised what a great personality she has and she really is perfect for us.”
Bella’s former owner, Charlene Latham, was sentenced to a 12 month community order at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court last month after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
The 32-year-old of St Brannocks Road, Ilfracombe, Devon, was also disqualified from keeping dogs for three years and fined £80, ordered to pay £200 costs and a £32 victim surcharge.
However, Shena Fairless, of South Killingholme , who has been seeking ‘Justice for Bella’ for more than a year, believes Latham was handed a “pathetic and frankly insulting sentence” for her crimes. Shena launched a petition just days after the incident last year and has now updated it to read ‘NO Justice for Bella’.
She wrote: “I am absolutely disgusted. This beggars belief..
“In three short years legally, this despicable excuse for a human can have the responsibility of another dog. Outrageous.” One animal lover responded: “People like this can’t be rehabilitated. It’s not that you abuse animals and wake up one day and decide not to do it anymore. This is who they are. Abusers looking for victims who cannot defend themselves.”
Another said: “This is pathetic. Truly pathetic. Animal abuse is just plain wrong and this person should have been denied the joy of ever owning another creature again at the absolute minimum. Disgusting and very disappointing.”
Sharing their views on the justice system, another commented: “So upsetting. I really thought with all the publicity the story had that they would make an example of them. Our justice system is just a joke – but not a funny one - in times like this.”
The original petition – Justice for Bella – gained more than 100,000 signatures in its first week. It now has about 170,000 supporters total. It reads: “Bella, a Belgian Shepherd, was tied to a rock and thrown in to the River Trent.
“We, the undersigned, are sick to death of the pathetic sentences handed out to animal abusers. “There is no deterrent for people who treat animals in the most despicable manner.
“We want the laws to be tougher and jail sentences for people who think it is OK to abuse animals. “Bella did not deserve to be treated like that.
“If it was not for a passer-by seeing her and getting her to safety she would have died.
“The actions of those responsible deserve nothing less than a lengthy prison sentence.”