A German Shepherd who nearly drowned after her owners tied her to a rock and threw her in the river is looking for a new home after months of recovering at an animal centre.
Bella, 11, was rescued from the River Trent in January last year by passer-by Jane Harper who saw her flailing in the water, where she had been struggling for hours after being left to die.
After receiving emergency veterinary treatment and moving into the care of the RSPCA Radcliffe Animal Centre in Nottingham, Bella is finally ready to find a new home, and centre manager Ella Carpenter appeared on This Morning to appeal for new owners.
The appearance comes after a new government-backed bill introducing tougher punishments for animal abusers passed through the House of Commons on Friday.
Passerby Jane Harper (pictured) bravely rescued 11-year-old Bella from the River Trent before Nottinghamshire Police took it to a local vet where she received emergency treatment
Bella was found up to her neck in water in the River Trent in Farndon, Nottinghamshire, in January last year
‘There was a deliberate attempt to drown her’, said Ella, ‘Thrown into the river Trent in the middle of the night.
‘She spent hours there until thankfully two dog walkers spotted her moving and her eyes flicker in the water around eight o’clock in the morning. They acted quickly they got into the water very bravely.
‘The pulled her out and upon doing that discovered that she was tied to a rock and the enormity of what was a deliberate attempt to drown her hit home and they called the police and they got her to a local veterinary surgeon and then here to start her recovery.’
Bella’s owner, Charlene Latham, 32, was sentenced to a 12 month community order after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to Bella at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court earlier this month.
Bella is finally ready to find a new home, and RSPCA centre manager Ella Carpenter appeared on This Morning to appeal for new owners for the animal
Bella has several health conditions which are being managed by the centre, and Ella told she’s looking for her ‘forever home’ where she can be given the ‘love and respect she deserves’
The court heard how Bella’s owner Latham, now living in Ilfracombe, Devon, had begged her ex-partner Leigh Johnson, 33, not to drown the dog. But Latham did not go and get help.
She was also fined £80, ordered to pay £200 costs and a £32 victim surcharge and disqualified from keeping dogs for three years.
The RSPCA said it did not have enough evidence to prosecute Johnson who denied the charge.
The Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill will increase the maximum sentence for animal cruelty offences from six months in prison to five years.
The proposed legislation was approved in the House of Commons earlier this week and now must undergo further scrutiny before the House of Lords.
Viewers were quick to call for harsher punishment’s for animal abusers, admitting they were left in tears following the segment and asking how anyone could carry out such ‘horrific abuse’
Viewers were quick to call for harsher punishment’s for animal abusers, admitting they were left in tears following the segment and asking how anyone could carry out such ‘horrific abuse’.
‘Oh Bella. How could anyone do that?’, said one.
Another wrote: ‘Crying my eyes out at poor Bella’s horrific abuse. Poor baby has probably got PTSD. How can anyone be so evil. The sentencing for animal abuse should be much longer, a life sentence as a minimum of 20 years.’
A third agreed: ‘Animal cruelty absolutely needs harsher punishment.’
Speaking of her recovery, Ella said: ‘For the first six months we did think she wouldn’t make it.
‘She was having regular blood tests, we found it very difficult to know her level of normal was, because she’s an older dog. But after the first six-months, we managed to stabilise her condition.’
Bella was later transferred into the care of the RSPCA Radcliffe Animal Centre in Nottingham where she fought back to good health
Bella has several health conditions which are being managed by the centre, and is looking for her ‘forever home’ where she can be given the ‘love and respect she deserves’.
‘She has very specific needs, said Ella, ‘She doesn’t like other dogs at all so she needs to go to a home without any other dogs.
‘She obviously needs to go to someone who can afford her care, it would be wrong of us to place her in ab home she won’t receive that going forward.
‘Ideally we would like to find a local home so the animal center can continue to support her care. It’s taken us 14-month to know her personality, to know when she’s well when she’s not so well.’
‘So we’d really like a local home, but the most important thing is that she finds a home, anywhere really where someone is prepared to take her on.’