In memory of Jester, the poster dog
Posted on the former site on 13 December 2012.
This page reposted a blogger's tribute to Jester, a collie who lived with the former group's founder, Nancy Lynch, and served as the group's poster dog. He died at 13. The same piece also appeared as a press clip dated 7 April 2011, so the two dates do not match.
The founder's words in the post said Jester had been a mascot for 13 years and had visited hundreds of children and families at libraries, storm conferences, pet events, dog shows and firehouses.
How the group began, as she told it
- In 1999, when Tropical Storm Floyd threatened Long Island, she was asked to help in a shelter for people but would have had to leave Jester at home.
- She said some residents of a low-lying island near Glen Cove stayed home with their pets and put themselves and rescuers at risk.
- She studied pets in disasters, became certified in animals-in-disaster community planning in 1999, and went to the first conference of the Humane Society of the United States on animals in disasters in 2000.
- She then brought shelters, a veterinary association and animal handlers together to make plans, and the Pet Safe Coalition came out of that. She said it was the first County Animal Response Team in New York State.
These are her own statements. The post also reproduced the "Rainbow Bridge" poem, author unknown, which is not copied here.