Woman spends months trying to save stray dog in Mesa
by Scott Craven – Sept. 7, 2010 06:11 PM
The Arizona Republic
It was just one dog.
It roamed a concrete basin south of Mesa’s Fiesta Mall, not far from a two-story parking garage where everyday shoppers likely caught a glance of the stray, scared and dirty, ribs poking through matted fur. Maybe they shook their heads and felt pity before stuffing their bags into their trunks and driving away.
Because it was just one dog.
A few months earlier, it had been two dogs. A large yellow dog ran with the smaller, scrawny one, until a rescue agency was called and took away the yellow dog, which eventually had to be euthanized.
But the smaller dog was too smart, too fast to be taken in. And so the man carrying the long pole with the noose gave up, hopping into his truck and disappearing.
Leaving just the one dog.
On a morning in early June, the sun peeking over the horizon, Gerlinde Arbizu pulled into the Fiesta Mall lot, as she did several times a week, dropping her daughter Christina at her job. The two live just five minutes away, so Arbizu didn’t mind her part-time chauffeur duty.
As Christina got out, she turned to shut the door, facing south toward the Superstition Freeway. And she noticed movement in some bushes not far from the chain-link fence that separates the mall from the freeway.
“Mom,” she said, “I think there’s a dog over there.”
Arbizu got out and looked to where her daughter was pointing. And yes, about 100 feet away, a dog huddled under the shrubs…
