Ripley the Dog goes from Homeless Hound to Pampered Pooch
Believe it! This top dog is the star of Ripley’s Big Bash!
Set for Saturday, December 18
ORLANDO, Fla. – (Dec. 13, 2010) – It’s a fairy-tale ending for a story that had a flea (and cockroach) infested beginning.
Ripley the dog will be the star of the show at Ripley’s Big Bash!, a send-off party and pet adoption event set for Saturday, December 18, at the Petco in Houma, Louisiana. The event starts at 4 pm.
Workers at St. John Parish animal shelter in LaPlace found the beleaguered animal in a ditch; his hair was so matted that he could no longer walk, his fur was full of cockroaches and he was close to being no longer able to eat. The shelter took him to a local vet, who shaved more than two pounds of hair off the dog. The homeless dog was named Ripley because “Believe It or Not!” there was a dog under all that fur!
After several weeks of TLC and socializing provided by My Heart’s Desire animal shelter, Ripley is a healthy, well-mannered dog who will go home with his new family, Houma residents Joy and Mike Tingle.
“We feel like we won the lottery,” said Mike Tingle, noting that more than 50 people were in line for the poodle and hundreds more had shown interest in his adoption. “We visited him a couple times and then filled out the paperwork and waited. It was a wonderful morning when we received the phone call.” Tingle called Ripley a “sharp little dog with a laid-back personality.” Ripley will be the Tingle household’s only pet.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is giving the Tingles a Petco certificate for six spa and grooming sessions for little Ripley, and has made a donation to My Heart’s Desire as a thank you for helping save the homeless ragamuffin. The company is also supplying a limo so Ripley and the Tingles can go home in style from the Big Bash! Natural Balance is donating 15 bags, a year’s worth, of dog food, to Ripley and his new family.
Local animal rescue groups will be on hand at Ripley’s Big Bash! to provide information on other animals that need permanent homes. Brent Neil, assistant store manager for the Petco store in Houma, is planning the big event for the 18th. “This is a great opportunity to showcase how important pet adoption is,” Neil said. “Little Ripley was in dire needs and was saved. He deserves a good home and he has found one. These are the kind of stories we all like to hear.”
Ripley’s unbelievable story, which received international interest, will be featured in the 2012 annual from Ripley Publishing that will be published in August 2011. The book is a collection of amazing, unusual and unbelievable stories from around the world.
“We are happy to have been able to help out little Ripley,” said Tim O’Brien, VP of Communications for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! “His story is one of survival and overcoming incredible odds, and really represents what Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is all about.”
Ripley’s Big Bash! will take place at Petco in Houma, located at 1651 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Downloadable images from Ripley’s Big Bash! will be available on Monday, Dec. 20 in the Ripley’s Newsroom.
Contact:
Tim O’Brien
VP Communications
Office – 615-646-7465
Cell – 615-496-5949
Brent Neil
Assistant Store Manager, Petco
985-851-3148
About Ripley Entertainment
Ripley Entertainment Inc. (www.ripleys.com), keepers of the venerable Ripley’s Believe It or Not! brand, is a global leader in location-based entertainment, entertaining more than 13 million annually at its 85 attractions in 11 countries. In addition to its 31 Believe It or Not! Odditoriums, the Orlando, Florida-based company has publishing, licensing and broadcast divisions, best-selling books and the popular syndicated cartoon strip, Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, that still runs daily in 42 countries. Ripley Entertainment is a Jim Pattison Company, the third-largest privately held company in Canada.
Posted by Wellons Communications, an Orlando public relations firm.