Pet Rock Fest Announces Its 2017 Heroes

NORTH GRAFTON, MA—Pet Rock Fest will, for the first time, take place at Wyman-Gordon in North Grafton.

This annual event, now in its 19th year, will be held on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017, from noon to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the Wyman-Gordon plant, 244 Worcester St., North Grafton.

The event features all of the popular attractions, but will include additions to our offerings: from food to vendors to events to nonprofit participation. And, of course, Pet Rock Festcontinues to put the spotlight on the animal welfare organizations of New England that work hard to promote kindness to animals.

At the heart of the day, and the organization, is giving a voice to the voiceless by putting the spotlight on those who help to do so.

Each year, Pet Rock Fest honors its heroes.

Meet the Pet Rock heroes of 2017, those who have shown exemplary work in animal advocacy

Laurence Holyoak grew up in Shrewsbury after moving to the US from France. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Wildlife Conservation and went on the study Applied Animal Behavior and Animal Welfare at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. She dedicated her dissertation to dancing bears in India and became very involved with the project. When she moved back to the US, she opened the first International Animal Rescue office in the country and currently works as the Program Director. The mission of IAR is to come to the aid of suffering animals with rescue and rehabilitation. IAR helped to end the dancing bear trade in India and runs a rescue and rehabilitation center for orphaned orangutans in Borneo.

When two teenaged boys spotted an abandoned dog on the side of the road, they didn’t look the other way. They took him in. They did the right thing and went above and beyond to show compassion and responsibility. Sam Rice, 13, and Brady Thebeau, 14, earlier this year took in an abandoned pit bull, cared for him, gave him food, and got him to safety. The two were walking in a wooded area of Leicester and spotted the dog, which a logger had brought closer to the road, tying him to a tree in the shade. The logger originally found the pup in a locked cage in the woods with a bag of food on the top of it. When the boys found the dog, he was covered in feces, skinny and had bug bites. The two were reunited with the dog when they were given the Award of Excellence from the Leicester Police Department and Board of Selectmen. The dog will be adopted, and police seek the person who abandoned the dog.