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SHELTER PUP MAKES THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
Saves Her Little Pal's Life and Is Posthumously Given
North Shore
Animal League America's Lewyt Award (May 2004)
There is hardly a stronger bond than that between
a little
boy and his dog. This tie was very much evident
between John Samuel
Kelm and his pup Jenny. They loved each other and
went everywhere
together. It was obvious that Jenny would do anything
for John Sam,
even give her life. Read the touching story told by reported Jack King
in the
Clovis (NM) Journal:
LITTLE BOY'S DOG REMAINS LOYAL TO THE END
By Jack King
By all accounts, Jenny was just a mutt. A little
less than a
year old, black and brown, with floppy
ears, a large head and big
feet attached to a puppy's body, she was
rescued from Roswell Animal
Control.
But John Samuel Kelm will always remember
Jenny as a lifesaver.
John Sam, a second grader at Ranchville
Elementary School,
and Jenny met each other last May when
John Sam's aunt adopted her
from the shelter.
"He took her pretty much everywhere he went," said the boy's
mother Amanda Wright. "When she was a little puppy, she slept with
him. And he was learning to take care of her, feed her, and water
her."
On October 18, John and Wright's boyfriend, Otis
Shawger,
were walking through a vacant lot behind Wright's
house on County
Road R, west of Clovis.
Shawger and his dog had already gone ahead when
Jenny
hesitated a moment, then rushed in front of John.
That's when the
rattlesnake that had been hiding in the grass
appeared. The snake
bit the dog three times. A local vet treated
her, but she died the
next day.
Wright said that John Sam did not show much emotion
at first.
"I think he was trying not to be a baby," she said. But a day later
she found him in the bathroom having a good cry.
"He said he was ashamed of himself, but I told him it was all
right. He loved her," she said. "He thinks she was his angel."
The Lewyt Award for May 2004 has been presented
posthumously
to Jenny to honor her exceptional bravery and loyalty
to John Samuel
Kelm and her courageous action that saved his life.
As a symbol of
the award, North Shore Animal League America is
sending John Samuel a
certificate describing his remarkable dog's incredible
deed and a
$500 check to help cover veterinary costs. The
League will present
Roswell Animal Control with a matching certificate
and check in
recognition of the organization's rescue and care
of Jenny.