🐶 DogsThey Set Her on Fire – and She Charmed the World With Her Smile
Riona, a pit bull mix from Memphis, Tennessee, was doused in gasoline and set on fire by her own owner. What happened next moved millions – and even changed a law.
A night that changed everything
It was the evening of June 20, 2022, in the Nutbush neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee. Neighbors heard a whimper – and then saw something they would never forget: a small dog, completely engulfed in flames, running down the street.
Bystanders reacted immediately, dousing the flames with garden hoses and pool water. But the damage was devastating – fourth-degree burns covering over 60 percent of her body. The little dog, a roughly one-year-old pit bull mix named Riona, had little chance of survival.
She was first taken to _Memphis Animal Services_, then handed into the care of _Tails of Hope Dog Rescue_, a small private rescue founded by Ginger Natoli. It was there that veterinary technician Mallory McLemore of _Bluff City Veterinary Specialists_ first heard about Riona.
"When I first saw a photo of her, I said, 'Oh, she's got some road rash. Yeah, we can help her,'" Natoli recalls. "It wasn't until we saw her in person that we knew this was something much more serious."
