For several days, neighbors at the ParkLine Miami tower saw a dog lying on an upper-floor balcony. The dog appeared very thin, and waste was visible around it. Videos spread quickly on social media, and residents and rescue volunteers spent hours trying to figure out which apartment the dog was in.

Around 1 a.m. Saturday, Miami-Dade County Animal Services carried the dog out of the building. Catalina Balzano, who runs the animal welfare group Bentley's Playhouse, said the dog was "just skin and bone," according to NBC6. A man was then arrested and charged with "animal cruelty with intent to injure or kill," according to jail records cited by NBC6. The charge is still pending, and the dog is now getting medical care.

This dog is alive because strangers refused to look away. The next dog may not be so lucky.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle should pursue this case fully and fairly, so everyone in the county knows animal cruelty is treated as a serious crime.

The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava should act too. County guidance already tells 311 staff to open a cruelty investigation when a dog on an upper-floor balcony looks starved or has no food or water. Yet finding this dog's unit still took hours. Commissioners can close that gap by banning dogs from being kept on high-rise balconies without shelter, food, and water, and by requiring building managers to help Animal Services locate a unit quickly when neglect is reported.

Every minute counts when an animal is suffering in plain sight. Sign the petition to demand justice for this dog and protect every animal left alone above Miami's streets.