news
Animal Hall of Fame Inductees Give Paws for Thought
Owner Veronica Fraser with Chance, Purina Animal Hall of Fame 2010 inductee. Picture courtesy of the Purina Animal Hall of Fame.
One of the first things we noticed at the 2010 Purina Animal Hall of Fame induction ceremony is that there was a package of tissues bedecked with a Purina sticker set on each of the room’s hundred-odd seats. “Strange swag,” we thought. As the event honouring the three dogs and one cat being conferred as Canadian pet heroes unfolded, it became clear that the tissues were a practical measure: stories of animals doing good deeds get tears jerking.
The 2010 hall of fame inductees—Patty, Gepetto, Bingo, and Chance—were all present at the award ceremony. Following a lengthy reading of each pet’s story of heroism and a video in their tribute, each animal made its way down the red carpet accompanied by a triumphant fanfare to receive a medal, have their photo snapped, and be presented with a painted portrait of their likeness.
There was not a lick of irony about any of this. We admit, it’s tempting to point to the absurdity involved in bestowing medals and paparazzi-like attention upon dogs and cats (we witnessed one reporter, from a news outlet that will remain unnamed, interviewing a dog), but we refrain here from further snark. Anthropomorphism may be absurd, but it is also powerful, and its effects are real. As Mandi Hein—owner of inductee Bingo, a service dog to Mandi’s eight-year-old son—quite rightly pointed out, “Bingo may not understand the whole concept of the Purina Animal Hall of Fame, but my son does.”
Though Bingo, a wiry Jack Russell Terrier turned unlikely service dog; Gepetto, an unruffled Garfield-esque orange cat; and Sandy, a sweet, excited farm dog, were each given their due, the star of the event was clearly Chance, a Dalmatian-Fox Terrier mix from Cape Breton who received an unprecedented four hundred nominations for recognition by the Hall of Fame.
Chance made headlines last December when he remained by the side of his seven-year-old autistic companion James Delorey for two days after James wandered into the woods and was caught in a snowstorm near his Cape Breton home. Chance kept James warm and eventually led rescuers to where the boy lay, unconscious. James would die in a Halifax hospital days later, but at the hall of fame ceremony, his family expressed how grateful they were to Chance that James was found at all. James’s mother, Veronica, said that Chance “helped James enjoy his last adventure by not being scared.” We did mention tear-jerking, right?
The Purina Animal Hall of Fame has been around for forty-two years and is permanently installed at the Pawsway Pet Discovery Centre at 245 Queen’s Quay West. Admission to the Centre is free.