February 01, 2007
Almost a year later
Team Vivi Update 2/01/07
The one-year anniversary of the day that Vivi was carelessly mishandled and lost at JFK Airport while entrusted to Delta Airlines to get her home, safely, to California, is only two weeks away.
Vivi is still missing.
There have been no confirmed sightings of Vivi since November. Since that time, we have received calls of people seen “walking” Vivi, unfortunately, the volunteers have not been successful in seeing these people walking Vivi while doing stake-outs of the areas. There are three areas, one in Astoria, Queens, one in East New York, Brooklyn and one in Long Island, not far from JFK Airport.
We are considering hiring professionals to try and confirm these as the volunteer’s schedules and daily lives prohibit us from checking these calls out effectively. Seems the Vivi Team is everywhere but never in the right place at the right time. I can only hope that if someone does have Vivi, that she is being cared for.
The media blitz surrounding Vivi’s unfortunate anniversary has already begun. As hard as it is, to relive what happened and all that the Vivi Team and people from all over the country have done to help with Vivi’s search, it is very important to keep the public informed that Vivi is still missing. Someone, somewhere, will see her and give us the call we have long awaited.
Besides learning about lost dog’s habits, what to do, and where to go for help, I’ve met some very incredible and caring people. The Vivi Team and Vivi’s Out-of Town Team, as well as other volunteers, brought together because of Vivi, have been instrumental in helping to rescue and re-home over 60 animals! A litter of puppies was rescued from a vacant lot in Queens by Team Vivi’s Barbara Jean and Nancy, just last week! All of these animals now have loving homes.
Many of Vivi’s volunteers, while out posting flyers and searching for Vivi, are helping to locate other missing dogs as well. Max, a white and brown pitbull went missing after a car accident in Kew Gardens, Queens in November. Bailey, a black and white Alaskan Malamute, was stolen from her home on January 18, and was seen wandering in Elmont, Long Island.
Whatever eyes were opened, because of Vivi, will never see things the same. We will always look at a loose dog, not so much as a stray, but possibly as someone’s lost pet.
A small group of us, formed from the Vivi search, had our first meeting about how to change the way airlines treat and handle animals while in their care. We do not want what happened to Vivi and the torment that Jil, Rick, Paul and Bo have been put through, to ever happen again. There is no reason for it. We never heard the outcome of Delta’s “internal investigation.”
