When a 12-year-old Pekingese survived a fall from an 11-story condo balcony in West Palm Beach this year, a star was born.
Bonzo’s owner, Kimberly Bellinger, was visiting her mother in the Rapallo condos along South Flagler Drive in September, just after the death of her father. She left Bonzo – who has limited mobility – outside on the balcony while she went inside to finish dressing.
When Bellinger came back outside, he was gone.
“My heart just stopped. I looked over the balcony,” Bellinger told The Palm Beach Post in an Oct. 1 interview. “I saw his little body lying there on the grass all the way down. I was sure he was dead.”
But Bonzo survived with only a broken rib and some care from the Palm Beach Veterinary Specialists. Now, his story is featured on Humans of New York, a blog and best-selling book that compiles street interviews and portraits of every-day people.
This is what Bellinger told Humans of New York:
“He’s a miracle dog. He’s twelve years old. He had a stroke three years ago where he lost the use of his back legs. And a month ago he fell off an eleven-story balcony, and only broke one rib. Eleven stories! I swear. Google ‘Bonzo’ and ‘balcony.’ You’ll see.”
A photo of Bellinger cuddling Bonzo, along with her re-telling of his story, has more than 200,000 likes and almost 4,000 shares on the Humans of New York Facebook page. Dozens of dog and cat owners in the comments shared photos of their own "miracle pets."
Bonzo has his own blog now,"Bonzo the Miracle Peke!"
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