[Vision2020] Caturday (February 3, 2018)

[Moscow Cares]

Alabama animal rescuer died as she lived: saving cats and dogs. Please raise your glass in memory of this wonderful woman on Caturday.

Courtesy of Alabama Living at:

http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2018/01/alabama_animal_rescuer_died_as.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

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Alabama animal rescuer died as she lived: saving cats and dogs

Jane Clancy, 75, the founder of All Breeds Animal Rescue and Adoption in Daleville, Ala., died Jan. 23, while trying to save dozens of animals in her care as her house burned. She was remembered at a candlelight vigil Friday night as a hero who rescued thousands of animals in her lifetime.

In addition to Clancy, 40 dogs and 18 cats perished in the fire. All 47 surviving dogs and one cat were taken in by other rescue organizations.

After a standing-room-only funeral Friday, the vigil was held that evening on Clancy's property, where her family members and friends - as well as many who adopted dogs and cats from All Breeds over the years - told touching and sometimes funny stories about Clancy and her devotion to "anything with four legs."

Those closest to Clancy were devastated but not surprised to learn that she'd sacrificed her life doing what she'd been doing for years: saving animals. "If she had survived and the animals perished, she would not have lived much longer with a broken heart," her tearful son, Mike Collins of Gray, Tenn., told the crowd of at least 200 people gathered for the vigil.

Clancy founded her animal rescue with a couple of kennels in her home in 2009, after her father and her second husband passed away. "She told me she had to take care of something," said Jillian Parker, a former All Breeds volunteer who now lives in Huntsville.

The rescue center grew "organically" from there on Clancy's 20-acre property, said Parker, who met her in 2011 at a pet-adoption event in Enterprise, where Parker's daughter fell in love with a dachshund puppy. When Parker expressed interest in volunteering, Clancy said she'd see her the next day.

She was bossy like that, outspoken, spunky and tenacious, "a spitfire and larger than life," said Parker, but her love for animals knew no limits. In fact, she had a heart for any animal in need, and sometimes added stray humans into her fold, according to Parker. And she worked hard.

"I don't know where she found the time or energy, but she did," said Parker. "I watched her throw 50-pound bags of dog food over her shoulder like it was nothing. She was absolutely one of a kind."

Over the next three-and-a-half years, Parker fostered 68 puppies at her home and worked with Clancy on an almost daily basis. "We joked that we were partners in crime," Parker wrote on Facebook after finding out Clancy had died, "and the oddest damn couple you'd ever see, be-bopping all over town when I was in my 20s and she was in her 70s - typically with a vehicle full of dogs."

Clancy's death is not only a personal loss to those who knew her or adopted from her, Parker said. "It's a huge loss to the animals, and to the community," she said, because there's no animal shelter in Daleville.

The morning after the fire, other rescue organizations stepped in immediately to take in the 47 surviving dogs. "It's been a huge effort that's stretched everyone thin, but they've done it because she's done it for them," said Parker.

Parker credited Clancy's two most dedicated volunteers, Anita Maas and Stefanie Berry, with coordinating the efforts to relocate the animals and shut down the shelter even as they dealt with their own grief over the loss of their friend and the many cats and dogs who died in the blaze.

"It's definitely been a long week for everybody," she said.

Holding a candle against the dark night, Harvey Mathis, the former Daleville police chief who led the vigil, said a prayer for Clancy, his voice breaking: "Rest in peace, Jane. Your work here is finished. Your legacy will always be remembered."

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Flowers were left in memory of Jane Clancy last week at the charred remains of All Breeds Animal Rescue and Adoption in Daleville, Alabama.
http://www.moscowcares.com/Caturday/Caturday_020318_01.jpg

Jane Clancy was "hardheaded and soft-hearted," one of the mourners at the candlelight vigil said of the animal rescuer who died saving animals from a fire. 
http://www.moscowcares.com/Caturday/Caturday_020318_02.jpg

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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