Get to know Duke Ellington Morris, a cat that is 14 years old and lives at the San Francisco International Airport.
According to the website for the airport, the Wag Brigade is a program that sends “trained dogs to the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable.” The cat has just became a member of the SFO Wag Brigade.
A pig by the name of LiLou, a rabbit by the name of Alex, and now Duke are the newest members of the Wag Brigade, which has been operating for well over a decade. Initially, the club was limited to canines only; but, in recent years, other animals, including humans, have joined. Pet Me! vests may be seen being worn by these animals as they make their way through the airport.
His participation in the Wag Bridge project is not Duke’s first foray into the field of animal assisted therapy. In an interview that was published on Friday by SFGate.com, Duke’s owner, Jen Morris, discussed his background and where he came from.
In the interview, Morris reveals that she gave her home and heart to Duke, a stray cat who had been rescued in San Francisco, when he was a year old. Because of Morris’s easygoing disposition, he was approved to become a therapy cat, and he immediately started working with patients at a number of different institutions.
“He used to make the trip to UCSF for his visits to the ICU.” And they’d bring him in on a cart, and anybody who wanted to pet him had to acquire clearance from their physicians, as Morris stated to the website: “And they’d wheel him in on a cart.” “They would give them a nice scratch beneath the chin,” someone said.
Duke’s efforts were acknowledged, and he was highlighted in a news piece published by KPIX in 2016 about him bringing smiles to the faces of patients in the intensive care unit at the UCSF Medical Center. Additionally, he was featured on the well-known wildlife website The Dodo.
According to SFGate.com, Duke’s birth name was Tai Chi Tuxedo; however, his owner, Morris, later changed his name to Duke in honor of the jazz legend of the same name.