Tragedy inspires woman to educate locals about keeping pets safe
If you have a pet, you know how important they are in our lives. Experts say having a pet in the home actually reduces stress levels and might even help us live longer lives. They are treasured members of our family, and we treat them as such.
But here in our desert communities, our precious dogs and cats are vulnerable. They can become victims of coyote attacks — which often end tragically. And it's this very unthinkable reality that inspired long-time local DeAnn Lubell to form her nonprofit Amy’s Purpose.
On a sunny afternoon in 2019, Lubell’s two beloved dogs, Amy and Sugar, were outside relaxing and playing on her back patio as they did every day. They loved their time in the sunshine, and Lubell loved seeing them so happy.
But on that day tragedy struck. In a matter of minutes her small pup, Amy, was viciously attacked by a roaming coyote and killed. Her other pup survived but to this day remains frightened to go outside alone.
Lubell was devastated. In those few minutes, her life changed. Her beloved pup was horrifically killed. “I still have never really recovered," she says. "It was such a shock and so frightening. I will never ever forget how helpless I felt.”
She decided to take action. She started researching the frequency and statistics of local coyote attacks in our valley and was shocked to discover there were far too many happening far too frequently. So, she vowed to help educate others to the peril and danger of coyote attacks.
“I don't want anyone else to ever have to live the same horror I experienced,” she says.
Thus, Amy's Purpose was born.
“The goal of Amy's Purpose is to provide education, prevention ideas, news alerts, the sharing of stories, grief counseling, professional guest speakers and eventually to establish more adequate and affordable 24/7 emergency pet care,” Lubell says. “It’s become my passion.”
While she was researching pet injuries and attacks, she also found that there is a serious lack of emergency pet care in our valley. “That is hopefully going to change,” she says. “I am now committed to making important changes in emergency pet care locally. We have a big fundraiser coming up in September. Please join us. You can go to our website to find out more details. This is such an important issue for our community."
Lubell’s passion and commitment to helping keep our valley's precious four legged family members safe is profound. It's for this great advocacy that we award Amy's Purpose the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation $1k Power of Community grant so they may continue their important outreach here in the valley.
As Lubell told us: “We don't want pet owners to live in fear. We just want to help educate them.”
A beautiful mission born from such a personal tragedy. Thank you, DeAnn.
Sandie Newton is an award-winning broadcast journalist who began her career in Los Angeles as co-host of the nationally syndicated show "PM Magazine." She went on to host many local and national shows like "Hollywood Insider" before becoming one of the original anchors for E! and a regular on Hallmark Channel's "Home & Family." In 2017, she moved to the desert full time, creating and hosting NBCares for more than six years, profiling more than 300 valley nonprofits. She is now the host of "Living Better," airing locally on KESQ, CBS2 and FOX.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Tragedy inspires woman to educate locals about keeping pets safe
