A black Labrador retriever that spent two stints at a Kansas animal shelter is living the good life on a 120-acre Florida farm, thanks to an affluent heir who felt a personal connection to the dog and dispatched a private jet to claim her.
Last week, social media pounced on the story of the senior dog that returned to the Chautauqua County Animal Shelter in Sedan, Kansas, after wandering some 30 miles away from a previous home.
When author Helen Rich — a granddaughter of chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. — learned of the dog's story, she sent her personal assistants to pick up the pooch Thursday and fly her to Florida.
Rich told TODAY.com that she could relate to the dog’s story.
It’s been a long journey for Lady, whose previous owners called her Ma Kettle and Pepper.
Two years ago, Lady’s original owner passed away. When no one claimed ownership of the dog, shelter director Kelsey Loyd found a place for her in his kennel.
Loyd told TODAY.com that a local family adopted her for about a year and a half, but when Lady started clashing with smaller dogs, the family gave her to a friend in Independence, Kansas. A few weeks ago, Lady escaped that house and walked almost 30 miles toward Sedan, but she returned to the shelter because neither household reclaimed her, Loyd said.
While visiting the shelter, Cindy Barclay Powell took a picture of Lady and posted it to multiple Facebook pages dedicated to saving shelter animals.
In the week that followed, Powell’s photo started gaining traction.
Cheryl Hanna, a freelance reporter for the National Pet Rescue Examiner, discovered Powell’s photo early last Wednesday, and wrote the related article that she said collected about 1 million hits.
On July 30, Hanna’s Examiner story went viral, and Rich learned about Lady while vacationing in Hawaii. Rich, who lives with seven rescue dogs and cares for an additional 60 to 70 through her animal-rescue initiative On The Wings Of Angels, responded by sending personal assistants Chet Ragsdale and Barbara DiCioccio on a mission to give Lady the permanent home that had been so elusive.
Because Rich determined that a jet would be the fastest way to claim the dog, Ragsdale and DiCioccio flew to Kansas Thursday afternoon to claim Lucy at the shelter, then boarded the private plane with Lucy in tow for the 2½-hour flight to Tampa.
Moments before landing Thursday night, Ragsdale snapped a pic of the dog as she hopped up on a seat and sneaked a peek out the window.
“I couldn’t resist,” he said.
On Monday, the Facebook page for On the Wings of Angels posted three photos of Rich and Lady palling around. Today, Rich’s personal Facebook page adopted one of these pictures as its cover photo.
Back in Sedan, Loyd said Ragsdale told him Lady is happy with her new digs.