One hour before the Hamilton County Human Society in Indiana was scheduled to open, someone hoisted a Pit Bull puppy over the fence and drove away. It was -4 degrees outside, she had a large gash in her head, and a jump rope tied around her collar became tangled in the yard equipment.
All of this occurred in less than two minutes of video surveillance captured by the shelter.
But the puppy, dubbed Miri, just wasn’t ready to give up. The shelter’s medical manager happened to arrive early and heard her cries for help. Spokesperson for Hamilton County Humane Jennifer Judd tells FOX 59:
This little girl was outside for 45 minutes in minus 4 degree weather, there are no words for that. […] She did have some signs of hypothermia and her paws were frozen. It took us two hours to get her temperature back to normal.
Just 8 days after Miri’s close call and after shelter staff sifted through a stack of adoption applications, her new family arrived to take her home.
Having tragically lost their rescue Pit Bull Annabelle to Lymphoma in August 2015, Krista Ward, her fiancé, and a very sad Pittie brother named Pig Pen were looking for a way to fill the hole she left behind.
When Pig Pen met the bouncy pup for the first time, shelter staff sent her home with them that night. Miri—now Vespa, AHEM, Princess Vespa—had zero problems adjusting.
Krista tells BarkPost:
We brought her home and she pretty much walked in like she owned the place. Almost like our home was where she was supposed to be from the beginning.
Like many ruff-and-tumble Pitties, Pig Pen adores a good game of tug-of-war. When he realized such a thing was possible with Vespa, says Ward, that was pretty much it. The two are inseparable, and little Vespa just loves to be around her brother and her humans.
“She loves to cuddle and snuggle with us,” says Ward. This princess has no worries of ever being cold again with so much warmth from her family. Of course, it’s arguable that the resident Big Brother is even happier about the situation.
[Pig Pen] would stare out the window and whine almost every night [after Annabelle was gone] and it was just heart breaking. Seeing him run and wrestle with Vespa has brought us so much joy. Pig is great with her too. He will roll on his back and let her climb all over him. Between the playful nips, she often sneaks in a couple sloppy puppy kisses too.
With all the love she’s getting, Vespa is trying to take it all in stride. She even had her stitches removed recently and is on her way to becoming a happy, carefree dog with barely even a scar to remind her of her past.
Congratulations to Vespa’s family, both two-legged and four, on your wonderful furry addition. May Vespa not take her new royal status too seriously.
Keep up with all of Vespa’s shenanigans on her new Instagram at @princess_vespa_the_pitty! And visit the Hamilton County Humane Society’s donation page to help them provide more phenomenal care to pups in need. Anyone with information on the person who abandoned Vespa should call the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Dispatch at (317) 773-1282.
