The Legacy Of Doris Day
Movie icon and animal lover
Doris Day, Hollywood legend and the only woman to hit No 1 at the box office and No 1 on the music charts simultaneously.
She died on May 13 this year at her Carmel Valley, Californian home at the age of 97, but her legacy to help abandoned pets lives on through the Doris Day Animal Foundation.
The charity was founded by Doris in 1978 with a straightforward mission: to
help animals and the people who love them. As a grantgiving charity, DDAF funds the work of other animal rescue organisations across the United States that directly care for and protect animals.
Desperate to address the root cause of the homeless pet overpopulation issue, she also formed the Doris Day Animal League (DDAL) in 1987, a lobbying group, whose overriding mission is to reduce the suffering of animals through legislative initiatives, education and programmes to develop and enforce regulations to protect animals. In 1995, Doris and DDAL founded Spay Day USA. Now known as World Spay Day and under the auspices of the Humane Society of the United States, this annual event has reached global proportions and helped spay and neuter more than 1.5 million animals in its first 15 years.
Her love for animals started early in life. While recuperating from a childhood car accident that nearly left her paralysed and devastated her first choice of career in dancing, her dog, Tiny, helped her cope.
“He never left my side, understood my moods and gave me the kind of companionship that only a dog can bestow,” Doris once said. “It was during this time that I bbegan a lifelong love affair with dogs, a sentiment known only to t dog lovers – and cat lovers, l too. Their affection a and caring is a relief from tensions and a anxiety.” Even in the early yyears, when animal wwelfare organisations wwere virtually nonexistent, e Doris was ppassionate about h elping animals through h er own grassroots effforts. In 1956 while on loocation in Morocco fil ming Alfred Hitchcock’s Th he ManWhoKnewToo Much, M she was appalled at the condition and treatment of the animals on and near the set, and announced that she would not work until the emaciated animals received proper care.
As a result, the production company promptly set up a feeding station for the goats, lambs, horses, cows, dogs, cats, donkeys and other animals. Doris, of course, supervised the care and feeding, and once she was happy with the results, she finished the movie.
At home in the States, she was affectionately known as the “Dog Catcher of Beverley Hills” after personally rescuing unwanted dogs from the streets. One star was famously quoted as saying, “We all had at least one of those Doris Day animals. If you would see Doris on the street or in the studio, chances are you would end up with some homeless dog or cat Doris was sponsoring.
“She carried around photos of the animals who needed homes, and then she’d actually come over to inspect your house to make sure you were up to it.”
Doris is quoted in her autobiography, DorisDay HerOwnStory, saying, “Dogs are as important to me as people. My canine family has been a source of joy and strength to me. I have found that when you are deeply troubled, there are things you get from the silent, devoted companionship of a dog that
“My dogs are family to me and have been a source of joy and strength”
you get from no other source.”
Once Doris left the limelight of Hollywood, she enjoyed a quiet life at home in Carmel Valley, California. Here, alongside her charity work, she took over the co-ownership of the Cypress Inn in Carmel by the Sea alongside Dennis LeVett.
When Doris first started travelling to Carmel regularly with her dogs in the late ’70s, she couldn’t find any hotels that allowed pets. As a result, she entered into partnership on her now world-renowned Cypress Inn, only on the condition that pets not only be welcomed in the hotel, but pampered as much as the human guests.
A regular visitor to the Cypress Inn who is also a volunteer for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) met Doris during a fundraiser and commented on her commitment and down-to-earth approach. “Doris was really humble and always had time to speak to us volunteers. Her love of animals was instantly apparent and her dedication to their cause was an over-riding passion in her life.”
Friends and fans wishing to remember Doris Day, are invited to support her charity and visit WWW. DORISDAYANIMAL FOUNDATION.ORG.