Comfort Pups

It was a tragedy that struck the world. Days after news broke of The Voice singer, Christina Grimmie’s murder, it was reported that an Orlando nightclub had been the target of a mass shooting with over 40 fatalities. Here’s what man’s best friend is doing to help victims of this misfortune.
Pets Team 15 June 2016

In the early hours of 12 June, Orlando nightclub Pulse was the target of a mass shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 more. As the victims recover from the ordeal, a troop of about a dozen comfort and therapy dogs have been flown in from all over America to give support to them and all those affected by the shooting.

“We’ve always believed that a dog or an animal can do more for a human being than a human being can,” Jane Marsh-Johnson, director of the Gracie Comfort Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa, told BuzzFeed News.

Pictured below is Gracie, the Trinity Lutheran Church’s 5-year-old comfort dog, who was selected to be deployed to Orlando at the request of a regional church organisation based in Georgia.


(Photo credits: https://www.facebook.com/GracieComfortDog/photos/a.187643411311477.46968.187642711311547/704793272929819/?type=3&theater)

Marc Gelbke, owner of Loving Paws in Clermont, Florida, told BuzzFeed News that he had spent Monday and Tuesday morning in Orlando with his therapy dog, Zoey, and together they spent time with those in grief at the GLBT Center of Central Florida. “Sometimes family and friends are too uncomfortable to visit their ill or aging loved ones because of their condition,” Gelbke said in a statement. “Connecting with an animal, petting or cuddling with it, can bring a smile and warm memories to those who feel ill, lonely, or neglected.”


(Photo credits: Marc Gelbke)


(Photo credits: Marc Gelbke)

Jane adds, “(The affected victims) can talk, cry, and pet the dog, and the comfort really is there. That gives them the freedom to pour out their hearts and grief without feeling we’re interfering.”

The pets team sends love and our deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed in the shooting. We wish them strength in this extremely difficult time.

(Cover image credits: https://www.facebook.com/GracieComfortDog/photos/pcb.1007612532647890/1007608949314915/?type=3&theater)