{"id":413556,"date":"2026-09-29T07:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413556\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T07:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T07:46:16","slug":"woman-who-called-911-after-neglected-dog-seen-on-miami-high-rise-approved-to-adopt-it-nbc-6-south-florida-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413556\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman who called 911 after neglected dog seen on Miami high-rise approved to adopt it \u2013 NBC 6 South Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dog that was rescued<\/a> after a disturbing video captured it being severely malnourished while it was trapped on a Downtown Miami balcony is recovering, and the woman who first called for help has been approved to adopt it.<\/p>\n

According to Miami Police, the French bulldog was found in a filthy area with no readily accessible food or water.<\/p>\n

Days after the video of the dog went viral, officers arrived at the Miami high-rise and arrested the dog’s owner, Kevin Benjamin.<\/p>\n

Benjamin, a local DJ, has been charged with animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill. He has since bonded out of jail.<\/p>\n

That dog, Dior, is now being treated as evidence in an animal cruelty case as veterinarians with Miami-Dade Animal Services are evaluating him and documenting his condition.<\/p>\n

NBC6 on Monday spoke with Rosalicia Bernal, who called 911.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrible, bad, brokenhearted, and confused,\u201d she said. “I don\u2019t know.”<\/p>\n

Bernal said she had been watching the dog from her nearby apartment for about two weeks and said he was repeatedly left outside on that balcony, and she couldn\u2019t just keep watching.<\/p>\n

“I never see the dog,” she said. “This is not right, but I see the dog only pee and poo on the balcony, never go out never walking.”<\/p>\n

Police and Miami-Dade Animal Services received a flood of calls after the video spread across social media.<\/p>\n

When officers arrived, they say the dog\u2019s ribs, spine and other bones were visibly prominent through his loose skin.<\/p>\n

Animal Control determined he was severely malnourished and dehydrated and needed immediate care.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, it\u2019s not the first time that a dog was on a balcony that somebody posted or a dog posted, and that the community ends up finding out what even happened to the dog,\u201d said Caterina Balzano, a neighbor and community member.<\/p>\n

At City Hall, those who helped bring justice to the dog were honored.<\/p>\n

At the ceremony, Bernal was officially approved to adopt the dog.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll have to wait until October to bring him home, giving the dog time to heal first.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe I\u2019m so happy, so happy with the community, Miami social media, people helping me,” she said. “I\u2019m so happy I saved a life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dog that was rescued after a disturbing video captured it being severely malnourished while it was trapped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-413556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}