Ask Ask Roxie Roxie we move on. First thing, they want to pet the dog. And my first
Words of Advice from an ‘09toPet question them is: 'Do you have a pet?' and they'll bring out
their phone. We just have a conversation!” Bella and Bonnie are a volunteer team with Pups n' Planes, where “comfort” dogs and their owners offer distressed travelers a little sugar. “People are waiting, their flight has been canceled, or they may have a four-hour wait, and they are upset.” “One time, two little girls stopped to pet the dog, and I looked up, and the mother was crying. Her husband was being deployed. I spent probably a half-hour with them, and the dad thanked me so many times because it got them thinking about other things,” Bonnie says. Airport staffers implemented the idea after learning how well it worked at the Los Angeles International Airport. Pups n' Planes has been reducing blood pressure and turning frowns upside down for six years. “In the car, she knows that we are almost at the airport. She gets so excited! Her job is to make people smile. She does that job.” And if you saw Bella, you would smile, too. The girl team also spends time at the airport USO, softening the loneliness and longing of our troops, so familiar to military life. While Bella offers kisses, Canine Explosive Detection Supervisor Sgt. Andres Lopez, and his police dog Keyno, provide safety and security. “We are there to make sure that the traveling public is safe, the dog makes that any threats associated with aviation there aren’t real threats,” says the airport K9 police officer. Above: Goats enjoy their work because eating is what they love to do! Lopez and Keyno “nose around," sniffing out threats that could come from a parked car, a suitcase, or a person. “Dogs Right: Goats naturally eat invasive species plants. are about as mobile as you can get,” says Lopez. He means the nose is mobile.
Bella is a volunteer with Pups n' Planes, the airport greeting committee. She wears her little pink coat, cheering up tired travelers at the San Antonio International Airport.
GOAT MANIA!
AWorkin' natural way to cut back your yard
for a Living!
BY BERIT MASON
Dogs with Jobs
This coming spring, the Brackenridge Park Conservancy BY BERIT has hiredMASON “Rent-a- Ruminant” to come clear out some brush. What is a “ruminant”? “Animals with two stomachs,” says board member The San AntonioofInternational AirportPark is HUGE! Charlotte Mitchell the Brackenridge Conservancy, and It recently a record, flying some 15,000 people A DAY, “animals,” in broke this case, are goats. forGoats a totalare of 10.36 million in 2019. what you call passengers “indiscriminate,” meaning that Passengers most certainly frequent the airport, but pups goats do too. they’ll eat just about anything. So across the country, Meet Bella. are being employed to come and eat up some brush. Bella is a petite dogneeds with light, wavy hair, offering“There everyone “Brackenridge Park help,” says Mitchell. are she meets the sweetest smile. Several hours a week, Bella and a lot of areas that are neglected because city funding for owner Bonnie Gioiello roam the airport, searching out the tired, parks is greatly reduced. And, one of the things that we have the weary, and the bored. wanted to do for a long time was to address the invasive “If they look up and smile, they are a dog lover. If they don't, species of plants that have taken over a part of the park that has hiking paths.” 34 APRIL 2020 | 78209magazine.com 38 NOVEMBER 2021 | 78209magazine.com
“They are heavily wooded … but when you get back in there, you feel a little too isolated.” So, herds of goats will arrive to eat and clear invasive species of plants to remove the extra brush. “This will create a nice line of sight and bring back that feeling of being out in more of a forest,” says Mitchell. The 120-year-old park is operated by the City of San Antonio. It is 349 acres, including a stretch of the San Antonio River, the Japanese Tea Garden, Sunken Garden Theater, the San Antonio Zoo, ball fields, the golf course, and the Lions Field Adult and Senior Center. “Goats are used everywhere to help with this kind of land Airport therapy dogs help soothe people who may be upset because of a clearing, so we thought it would be actually fun to have goats long wait, delayed or cancelled flight. in the park and to accomplish this goal.” “And because of the proximity to the river, we thought using
