Chapter 1 – The Blue Door
The first thing people noticed about Haven Paws Rescue was the blue door.
It was painted a soft powder blue, with a white paw print in the centre and a handwritten sign underneath:
NO ANIMAL LEFT BEHIND.
The rescue operated from a converted farmhouse outside Bologna.
Nothing about it looked wealthy.
The driveway was gravel.
The kennels were mismatched.
The office contained two second-hand desks, an old printer and shelves filled with donated blankets.
That was part of its appeal.
Haven Paws did not look like an organisation with marketing people or expensive equipment.
It looked like ordinary people doing impossible work.
Its founder, forty-one-year-old Elisa Moretti, appeared in most of the videos.
Usually without makeup.
Hair tied back.
Mud on her jeans.
Sometimes crying.
“Guys, I wasn’t going to post this.”
That was how many of her videos began.
Then the camera would turn.
A dog with a bandaged leg.
A frightened kitten inside a carrier.
An elderly animal lying under a blanket.
And always, within minutes, a donation link.
Emergency surgery needed tonight.
We cannot save him without you.
Please don’t scroll away.
People didn’t.
They donated.
Five euros.
Twenty.
Fifty.
Sometimes hundreds.
Haven Paws had more than 300,000 followers.
And for twenty-three-year-old veterinary student Anna Ricci, volunteering there felt like doing something that actually mattered.
At least at first.
