From Fur-ever Friends to Biker Kittens- ATA’s September Collaboration of Feel Good Animal Stories
With the modern age of technology in full swing, it can sometimes seem like the news is only a constant barrage of only negative information being thrown into your face at once. Every day it seems like another terrible incident has happened in the world, and the sensory overload can become emotionally draining. This is why your friends at Arm the Animals want to create a monthly collaboration of some good news pertaining to our furry cohabitants. With their pure innocence, animals have the ability to soothe any negative emotion for an instant feeling of warmth.
Here are some stories that have warmed our hearts throughout the past month:
Last Known Living 9/11 Search-and-Rescue Dog Honored in New York City
(link for pics: http://abcnews.go.com/US/living-911-search-rescue-dog-honored-york-city/story?id=33687084)
A golden retriever named Bretagne, along with her handler Denise Corliss, were honored this past weekend for the valiant search and rescue missions during September 11th on her 16th birthday.
"Responding to the World Trade Center was our first deployment," Corliss told BarkPost, which sponsored their trip and commemoration in the city. "We were there to try and find survivors. When our task force arrived in Ground Zero, I just couldn’t believe the magnitude. Towards the end of our mission, it changed from a search mission to a recovery mission. I was just so grateful to have a canine partner that helped me get through it.”
The trip included a billboard lit up in Times Square, a stay at the lavish 1 Hotel Century Park, the doggie equivalent of the key to the city-- “a bone to the city" made by Tiffany and Co. and a cobblestone dedicated to Bretagne at the 9/11 memorial plaza by the National September 11 Memorial Museum. Also a search and rescue worker for other catastrophic events such as Hurricane Katrina, Bretagne now spends her time as a therapy animal helping children learn to read.
Senior Dog Completes Bucket List
Link for pics (http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/biggest-item-on-angels-bucket-list-done/2244721)
In the hopes of giving a very special senior dog an adventure and also a better chance of senior adoption, a volunteer at a Tampa Bay, Florida shelter caregivers began completing a 50 item bucket list for the Australian cattle dog mix named Angel. As her bucket list adventure began to gain media attention, number 50 on her list, adoption, was about to be checked off.
"We were waiting for a special reason," new owner Timothy Kehoe said, "and it showed up in the paper."
Dog caretaker Sue Silver watched Angel meet the couple.
"She had a glow about her," Silver said. "I was like, 'Oh, this is it.'
Not only did the lucky senior dog get the opportunity to see deer while hiking, lap water from a wine glass and pee in the Dunedin Blue Jays outfield, go paddleboarding, admire a double rainbow and walk along the Gulf of Mexico, but she also got to find her forever home.
"Whatever time she has left on this good earth, I just want her to be in a good home," Ziegler said.
Not-So-Bad to the Bone
Link for pics: http://mashable.com/2015/09/15/biker-cat-road-trip/#k0TDb9UNPZkg
In only a manner that could be considered fate, a fur-ever friend and a cross country biker met at the right time. Pat Doody, part time sheet metal worker/ part time biker, was on a cross country bike trip from California to New Jersey when he met the unlikeliest of acquaintances-- an injured kitten.
"I was just at this truck stop getting gas," Doody told Revzilla, "and this little guy just needed help. He was pretty badly burned, so I picked him up and tucked him inside my vest."
Rightfully named “Party Cat”, the small kitten went along for the cross country trip in Doody’s vest, snacking on some tuna along the way. Now almost completely healed in his new home in New Jersey, Party Cat and Doody have become the ultimate, but cutest, odd couple.
Stay Tuned for October’s Fur-ever Friend Feel Good Stories!