News

Baby Girl, a gentle nomad loved by all, dies in rescuer's arms

Baby Girl died on Friday, March 18, 2016.

By Lightning Reports, Published: March 18, 2016

Baby Girl, a gentle and elusive mid-sized dog who lived most of her life as a nomad on the streets of Hendersonville before being rescued and ushered into a life of luxury, died today at 1:30 p.m. after a sudden onset of pneumonia, her rescue mom said in an email to friends of Baby Girl. She was thought to be about 15 years old.

"She went in my loving arms as Mike was at an all day class," Mary Cervini, who along with her husband caught Baby Girl last June and got her treatment for a cantaloupe-sized tumor, said in an email to the long list of humans who kept up with Baby Girl's adventures.

Baby Girl's life on the street was fodder for local legend. People who followed her travels and resourceful ways recalled seeing her 10 or more years ago at the old Hardee's on Greenville Highway, which was where TD Bank now stands. She roamed up and down Grove Street and as far north as the M&M meat store on Seventh Avenue, where she hit the jackpot of leftovers. People had created water and feeding sites at numerous locations along her route. They followed and admired the yellow dog who was variously known as Hendo, Hendersonville or just "the town dog."

When the Cervinis rescued her from under a house near the Salvation Army, the timid loner had a new name, Baby Girl, and a life of ease at the couple's mountaintop home in Kenmure. She suddenly had seven step-siblings, who survive. Never a herd animal when she roamed the streets, Baby Girl had become tolerant of the other rescues and eagerly accepted the Cervini household amenities, which included a treat jar, real meat at breakfast and dinner, daily rubs and warm blankets from the dryer.

"We took BG in for a check up a few weeks ago," Cervini said in an email at around 10 a.m. Friday. "All blood work was a go! Plans were to have her teeth cleaned. ... Well, she developed a cough and heavy breathing. Dental was postponed and now BG is in the fight of her life. She has severe fluid on her lungs — which has improved, but there is a tumor in her lungs that is cancerous."

The couple ran a vaporizer for Baby Girl 24 hours a day, had a special medicinal compound made at Shelton's Pharmacy and used their hands to clap her side to break up the fluid in her lungs.

"In the end, Baby Girl won — but each and everyone of you (and many others) were part of keeping her going to enjoy the Rest of Her Life," Mary wrote. "As Baby Girl is now in Heaven, she is with the many other precious animals in God's hands. Each of you are special and no words can thank you enough for caring!

"Baby Girl's legacy is that every puppy or kitten born is important and should not be disposable."