The New York City woman who made national headlines for an encounter she had with a black man in Central Park a couple of weeks ago has been reunited with her dog. Amy Cooper called the police on the man when he asked her to put her dog back on its leash, and the video he took of the incident went viral. She was separated from her dog briefly, but now they are together again.
After the video went viral, the shelter where the dog had been adopted from received a deluge of complaints. Not long after the incident started to make headlines, the Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue organization shared via Facebook that they had received the dog back.
At the time, the organization said that Cooper had adopted the dog from them several years ago. After the incident, she relinquished the dog back to them. In their initial statement, they said they would keep the dog as the matter was being addressed. At the time, they indicated that they would not comment on it further.
However, on Wednesday, the organization posted an update on their Facebook page.
“Abandoned Angels would like to express its gratitude for the outpouring of support regarding the dog that was recently placed in our custody, following release of a troubling video that was brought to our attention,” the Facebook post began.
The organization noted that their veterinarian immediately examined the dog and indicated that he was in good health. Many of the complaints directed toward the rescue group were regarding the way Cooper handled the dog while he was off-leash and she was arguing with the man involved.
“We have coordinated with the appropriate New York City law enforcement agencies, which have declined to examine the dog or take it into their custody. Accordingly, and consistent with input received from law enforcement, we have now complied with the owner’s request for return of the dog,” the statement continued.
People around the country have followed this situation and its subsequent fallout closely. By the looks of the reactions to this Facebook post, it seems that many people do not think that returning the dog was the right outcome.
A number of people praised the rescue group and the work that they do, but it looks like they were in the minority. As of this writing, there were about 1,200 reactions to the post and 1,400 comments added in the 19 hours since it was first shared.
The vast majority of the reactions, somewhere around 1,100 of them, were either the sad or angry emoji. The comments were more of a mix of support and criticism, with some people noting that the rescue organization was likely in a difficult position in this scenario.
Cooper lost her job soon after the video went viral, and she said in an interview that her life was being destroyed by it. She may have lost her job and made national headlines, but as of Wednesday, she had been reunited with the dog who was at the center of the Central Park incident.
