Andover residents honour stray cat Jess with bronze statue

The infographic-style image made by me explains the story. For me - and I am sure many other animal and cat lovers - to see the residents of Andover, England raising £5,000 to commission a sculptor, Amy Goodman, to create a bronze statue in memory of Jess, who made the railway station her home, is a delight. 

No doubt Jess's presence at the railway station pleased countless numbers of commuters. She must have made them smile; brightened up their lives on a damp Monday morning on their commute to the office. I love to see this happen. It is good for cats. I have just written an article about a story that was bad for cats. Click this to read it.

Amy Goodman presents her mold for the bronze statue of Jess by Michael Broad

Evergreen companion animal memorial tree in Central Park

There is an evergreen tree in Central Park New York which is a memorial to companion animals that have passed over the rainbow bridge.

New Yorkers who want to remember their beloved companion animals can go to Central Park and find an 18 foot evergreen tree on which will be laminated images and words memorialising beloved companion animals that have passed over the rainbow bridge. And there is a website about the tree: TheFureverTree.com.

The tradition has been going on for 40 years and it runs from Thanksgiving to Three Kings Day.

The website tells us the role the tree plays for grieving pet lovers: 'pet lovers in search of a place to heal, a place to honor, bless and celebrate all creatures great and small who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge.'

A kind person takes down the memorials every year and cleans them up and fixes them up and places them out the next year. They do it without payment or any reward whatsoever.

Any pet can be memorialised on the street but it seems that most are dogs with some cats.

The current "tree keeper" is Marianne Larsen. She took over the role from Mr Reddock about five years ago after he had difficulty walking.

It was during the Covid pandemic that this memorial tree took off in popularity. Larsen said: "In 2020, we added 200 photos. In '21 it was another 200 and in '22 it was another 200. So now we are over 600 and I think after the day we might be up to at least 750."

People who used to live in New York City and who left a memorial on the tree sometimes find time to return to it when passing through.

I believe the tree is in a place called The Ramble. It is one of Central Park's three woodland landscapes and stretches across 36 acres in the middle of the park between 73rd and 79th streets.

My thanks to the Daily Mail. The video below is embedded from the newspaper. I don't control its existence and it may disappear one day.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.