Wiggly dog spent her life in kennel — then it caught fire. Now Aria needs a home
A dog in Missouri is being called a “burn survivor” after she managed to escape a deadly situation. Exactly how she got got away with her life remains a mystery.
When Aria, a gentle-soul of a pitt bull, was brought into the Stray Rescue of St. Louis, she had .painful burns on a majority of her body, the shelter said in a news release.
“(She) was being kept in an outdoor kennel, filled with hay and a tarp overhead,” the shelter said in the Jan. 21 release.
“…And a space heater.
“The space heater caught the hay and the tarp, and she caught on fire! We don’t have any more specifics other than that, or how she got out, whether she went over or under, or if she was rescued. So many questions. But a transporter offered to bring her to St. Louis so we could save her. She’s here now and we named her Aria. And she is WAGGING. HER. TAIL. She seeks our comfort, but it hurts to look at her burned skin, her burned ears, her burned chest, her burned legs, her burned paws – everywhere.”
Since then, Aria has been trekking on the long road to recovery and making friends along the way. Despite the horror of her burns, she’s managed to spread joy.
“Her cornea was also burned in the fire. She is just 9ish months old and most likely has lived outside alone her whole life,” the release says. “She craves love, attention, and wiggles all over when we give her baby talk. Baby girl, that is all over now. We need you to be strong these next few weeks. The life you want is on the other side. We just have to get you through it.”
The shelter has posted updates of Aria’s progress, including a video of her snuggling up to her favorite person at the shelter.
“Here is a SNEAK PEEK moment we caught!
“Aria is the quietest, sweetest little patient. But when her favorite person, Tracy, walked in, she HOWLED!” a Feb. 13 Facebook post said. “She’s getting a lot more energy now that she has moved on from the heavy pain killers (She’s still on pain meds of course, but no longer the heavy ones). She’s getting very playful! Is this the best?”
In an earlier social media post, the shelter said that Aria is healing and her burns are turning out as expected.
“This survivor is beyond amazing. And we say it every time, but those eyes...wow,” the shelter said in a Feb. 11 post.
“Her burns are progressing as expected. She has more dead skin debrided (removed)twice a week. Dr. Schulz is waiting for her body to decide what needs to go and what is healing and should stay. This will be months of recovery, but once all of the debriding is finished, we’ll start with grafts and fish skin.”
For more updates on Aria, visit the shelter’s website and Facebook page.
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Wiggly dog spent her life in kennel — then it caught fire. Now Aria needs a home."