Not long after Los Angeles went into coronavirus lockdown in March, Henry Golding and wife Liv Lo started fostering a gray pit bull named Stella in order to help ease the burden on shelters and animal rescues as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on.
But on April 23, TMZ reported that the "Crazy Rich Asians" star's happy story took a troubling turn. According to an Instagram post by dog owner Noelle Balfour, Stella "mauled" her pet at L.A.'s Pan Pacific Park, sending him to the veterinarian in need of medical attention and staples for his injuries.
Henry has offered to pay the vet bills, TMZ reports.
"Mauled by @henrygolding & @livlogolding Foster Attack Pit Bull- at the park, with a 30feet leash- HG told me Stella would 'shred him to pieces' and he released her. He did not care, didn't apologize, didn't help and didn't regret it. Heartless human being. 5 hours at Emergency Hospital & 6 staples," Noelle captioned a video showing some of her dog's injuries, tagging actress Olivia Munn (who encouraged Henry and Liv to foster Stella) as well as ABC News and TMZ.
TMZ was told that "Stella attacked a smaller pup while the dogs were running around, picking the pooch up by the neck and causing a large gash that required several hours at an animal hospital. The hurt pup needed six staples, but will survive," the webloid wrote.
The dog's owner told TMZ that she talked to a cop who was at the park but police "wouldn't do anything," TMZ wrote, and told her she and Henry had to sort it out between them. The actor gave his email address to Noelle, TMZ added, confirming they've been communicating.
According to TMZ, Henry's dog was leashed. Noelle's dog was not. Commenters including many dog lovers got riled up, with many lashing out at Henry and others going after Noelle.
On March 31, Henry took to Instagram to share that he and Liv were caring for Stella during lockdown. "So today was a hug day at the Golding house hold, we became foster parents for this little pup Stella," he captioned a slideshow of images with the dog and friends. "Sadly with Covid 19 alot of the adoption shelters still need to find homes for these beauty's, what better way to share your home in quarantine than with a loving fuzzball. Our friend @oliviamunn has been such an amazing advocate for pets that need homes. so with help from @wag, @greatergoodorg, @startanimalrescue and @robertvillaneda we found our perfect match in Stella! 🦮." He added, "Of course during our whole interaction we kept a safe distance and made sure to wear protective equipment, it's still so doable even in this challenging time ❤️❤️ If your interested in fostering in LA the link will be in my bio 🙌🏼."
At the time the dog attack story broke, Henry's most recent post on Instagram was all about Stella.
"Taking her for a walk is literally the highlight of our day 🤷🏻♂️❤️," he captioned a slideshow of photos of his foster dog.