Over the course of her career on the silver screen, Renee Zellweger has won three Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a BAFTA and the top dog of acting accolades, an Academy Award. Now, in her real life role as a Texas native concerned for the dogs and cats affected by Hurricane Harvey, the star has won the admiration of animal lovers the world over.
Born and raised in the community of Katy, a small city in the Houston metropolitan area, the cinematic leading lady recently joined an ensemble cast which included compassionate volunteers from Austin Pets Alive!, Houston Pets Alive, MAD Dog Rescue and the Lucy Pet Foundation, all working to help adoptable companion animals make the journey to Oakland, California so they can land coveted roles in the lives of forever pet parents.
Speaking with news station ABC13, the Bridget Jones’s Diary star stated: “I’m a Texan and I just wanted to find a place where I could contribute. It didn’t feel right to just send a donation. That works and everything, but I’m from here and it didn’t feel right to just stay home and not be part of a team.”
Zellweger, who had already worked in the laundry room, cleaned crates, sorted donations and calmed the frayed nerves of canines and cats during three days as a volunteer at Austin Pets Alive!, (a non-profit which has taken in many companion animals displaced by the natural disaster), joined Dr. Karen “Doc” Halligan, Lucy Pet Products founder Joey Herrick and volunteers from other animal welfare organizations as they loaded approximately 70 adoptable companion animals from Houston shelters on a plane chartered by the Lucy Pet Foundation.
The animals’ flight to a new life took place on Lucy Pet Foundation’s return trip to the hard hit region. When the flood waters began to recede in early September, Lucy Pet Products and Lucy Pet Foundation founder Joey Herrick, along with LPF’s Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Karen Halligan, embarked on a trip to Brazoria County, where The Lucy Pet Foundation assisted Brazoria County SPCA in Lake Jackson with the more than 1,000 homeless and injured cats and dogs being cared for by the animal welfare organization’s staff and volunteers in the aftermath of hurricane Harvey.
Lucy Pet Foundation offered aid in the form of both hands-on attention to the needs of the displaced animals and through donations of Lucy Pet Products‘ “products with a cause.” The registered non-profit will continue to travel to hurricane ravaged areas in order to put dogs and cats made homeless by the disaster on the path to abetter tomorrow. For information on future Lucy Pet Foundation flights to help pets in need and how you can help with your donation, visit www.lucypetfoundation.org/single-donation, and follow Lucy Pet Products, The Lucy Pet Foundation and Karen “Doc” Halligan on Instagram.
About The Lucy Pet Foundation
A registered non-profit working to end the loss of more than 80,000 companion animals each week in the U.S. shelter system, in 2016 alone The Lucy Pet Foundation provided spay/neuter services for more than 4,000 cats and dogs. Thanks in part to sales of USA-made, cruelty-free Lucy Pet Products (which can be purchased at specialty stores across the country and online), the non-profit organization is well on its way to one day placing a mobile spay/neuter and pet adoption clinic in every major city in America.
We are proud that Lucy Pet Products’ Cats Incredible litter is a CatTipper sponsor.
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