A long trip that began in New York in January has finally come to an end with a "ride in the car" and some new "siblings" for Jessie, the Golden Retriever. Jessie skyrocketed into the international spotlight when she was involved in the tragic and accidental death of 6 year old Kaitlyn Hassard. The Hassard family chose to give Jessie up for adoption, but requested that she be transferred out of state. In accordance with their wishes representatives of the Brookhaven Animal Shelter on Long Island contacted Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, California and asked if the Center would accept Jessie and work to find a new family for her. The answer was, "How soon will she be here?"

More than 250 online adoption applications arrived from across the United States. HWAC adoption counselors evaluated each application and narrowed the field of potential adopters to 70. Then America's most famous "shelter dog", Benji (star of the new "Benji Off the Leash" movie) selected three tickets from a large bowl. Each ticket corresponded with one of the 70 applications. Adoption Manager Tracie Dyer contacted the family whose application was drawn first and arranged for them to visit Helen Woodward Animal Center and meet Jessie.

Following Jessie's successful meeting with Gerald and Shari Boyd of Hesperia, CA (along with their dogs Buster and Selby), a complete application was filed and an adoption interview was conducted. Success! The adoption was approved and Jessie would soon go home to stay.

On Wednesday morning, March 1 two HWAC adoption managers loaded Jessie into a Center van and made the 125 mile trip from Rancho Santa Fe to Hesperia where she will spend the rest of her life with Gerald and Shari, Buster the beagle, Selby the sheltie, and their cats.

Congratulations to the Boyd family on the adoption of their new best friend. And thank you to animal lovers around the world for their interest in adopting Jessie, their enthusiasm about our efforts, and their continued support of Helen Woodward Animal Center "where people help animals and animals help people".