Jessy, the 18 month-old Golden Retriever who accidentally strangled her 6 year old owner on Long Island, last week, will be adopted out from a California shelter.
The Golden Retriever had been sent to the Brookhaven animal shelter on Long Island after her 6 year old owner, Kaitlyn Hassard, was found unconscious in the family’s back yard, Thursday afternoon. Attempts were made to revive Kaitlyn but, sadly, failed. Despite more than 1,100 calls with offers to adopt the dog coming into the Brookhaven shelter, requests from the Hassard family were that the dog not be adopted out to anyone in their area.
Plans have since been made to send Jessy out to the Helen Woodward animal shelter in Rancho Santa Fe, California, which specializes in finding adoptive homes for cats and dogs that have been involved in traumatic incidents. Promoting “people helping animals and animals helping people,” this unique organization benefits their community by providing educational and therapeutic programs for people, as well as humane care and adoption for their animal friends. The Helen Woodward animal shelter receives no governmental funding and relies solely upon contributions from private sponsors; if you would like to help Jessy and the kind souls who are helping her find a home, visit the Helen Woodward Animal Center.
How else can you help? Far too often, tragic accidents occur that are completely avoidable. Promote animal awareness and pet protection, ensuring that pets are supervised at all times. Quite often, animals get to playing and risk harming one another when they are unsupervised. Additionally, unsupervised pets can pose a risk to young children or the elderly without meaning to. A good rule of thumb is to treat your pet like a small child; if you would not leave a small child in such a situation, it is best not to leave your pet unsupervised.
