Massapequa Post

Pets, Pets, Pets


 

The September 28th passing of Mary Bloom carved a huge void in the dog show world, photography world, rescue world, Cathedral world, and my world because Mary, an extraordinary person, chose me to be her close friend- a gift I will cherish forever.

Mary blessed and embraced animals every day of her life- Be it the Westminster Best In Show (BIS), a stray with mange, confiscated wildlife needing refuge at the ASPCA, rats she trained for Broadway, the bludgeoned baby harp seals whose plight she brought to the world’s attention with her photos and every creature fortunate to become her beloved pet. She never ignored people in need either.

Born into the dog world in the Bronx of 1940, Mary’s mother ran a boarding house for young women and raised Dalmatians. To keep the neighbors from knowing how many dogs there were, only two Dalmatians were allowed in the yard at a time. Later, Mary had a computer career, yet volunteered at the ASPCA back when “the A” was in charge of animal control for the city. She honed her camera skills as she helped the exotics- snakes, monkeys, lion cubs, parrots. Mary became a wildlife rehabilitator, raising many orphans at home. This was the inspiration for two children’s books by the author Aliki, titled “At Mary Bloom’s” and “Overnight at Mary Bloom’s,” Greenwillow, New York, 1987.

 “There was a story every five minutes at the ASPCA front desk,” Mary said. A call from a Fort Apache precinct on a sweltering day brought her to a penguin police had rescued from a box left in a park, and an unsolved mystery of why a penguin was in a box with goose eggs. This African penguin joined the clan at the Coney Island Aquarium because of Mary’s contacts at the Bronx Zoo.

At the ASPCA, Mary recognized a pair of senior dogs caged together as those belonging to a man she would see on a bench nearby. Using their licenses to track him down, she discovered him unconscious on a mattress in a rundown tenement. Her call to 911 sent him to the hospital and an eventual reunion with his old pups.

Mary Bloom with a baby harp seal in Nova Scotia.

Mary Bloom with a baby harp seal in Nova Scotia.

Mary’s photographer’s eyes were very observant. While taking photos at the Animal Medical Center, she spied a homeless man from the window because his dog was limping. The vets there told her to invite James in (after hours) so they could work on his dog’s leg. Mary realized James was troubled but well-educated. He stayed at her loft apartment while she found him odd jobs as a painter. Eventually, James’ European relatives traced James to Mary’s address. Their long-lost step-brother James, an engineer, was from an aristocratic family with a castle. He was reunited with them, and Mary was invited to Germany to meet his family.

In 1979, Mary’s ASPCA work brought her to the Gulf of St. Lawrence with Cleveland Amory on the Friends of Animals ship to record protests over the clubbing of baby harp seals. Canadian authorities wanted to squelch media coverage and confiscated everyone’s cameras except for Mary’s because police would not frisk a woman in a rain slicker. When Amory’s attorney was flown ashore to visit his ailing mother, the Associated Press was waiting at the Philly Airport to escort him. He didn’t know that Mary had smuggled her film into his bag. The next day the AP teletyped back: “Photos great. Front page around the world.” She left her computer job and embraced photography full time.

The Dalai Lama greeted by a Tibetan Spaniel at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

The Dalai Lama greeted by a Tibetan Spaniel at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Mary spent years as photographer for North Shore Animal League. Her images of Scarlett, the heroic, burned mother cat who rescued her kittens from a Brooklyn building fire, are familiar to many. North Shore sent her to Alaska after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to coordinate other photographers’ transport to the site of the oil spill. She extended her stay to work alongside volunteers de-greasing birds and other wildlife.

During the 1980s-90s as photographer in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, Bloom chronicled every aspect of cathedral life from joyous ceremonies to profound sadness such as Jim Henson’s funeral where many mourners, some dressed in Kermit green, waved “flying” paper butterflies. She immortalized visits of dignitaries like Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela; orchestrated the Blessing of the Animals, even an elephant, on St. Francis of Assisi feast day. The elephant climbed the huge steps to enter through the Cathedral’s carved doors and stomped down the center aisle to the altar. Mary raised the trio of white peacocks that roamed the Cathedral grounds. When we visited in 2013 to set up Mary’s photo exhibit “Dog Bless You,” one of the peacocks (or its progeny) came running up to us.

“Now, dogs are the heart of my work. It’s my intention and purpose to create images that let everyone know these beloved creatures are not underlings- they are equals, bringing us their own gifts to better our lives. There are a thousand ways that dogs enrich our experiences. As their ambassador, I have an inherent need to show that I’m merely giving back what they gave me,” Mary said.

Her Cathedral tenure overlapped her 20+ years as Westminster’s official photographer. She communicated with her canine subjects like no other. Whether Westminster BIS Uno the Beagle bugling at the White House, BIS Malachy the Pomeranian cheering kids at Ronald McDonald House or Irish Setter puppies lined up studiously on a bench, all dogs alerted with charm when Mary vocalized her squeaky noises.

Last spring when COVID suspended dog shows, Mary began her “Mary Bloom- Forty Years of Dog Show Memories” Facebook page where she posted photos from her archives daily. This became a virtual gathering place for dog show enthusiasts to reminisce about great dogs and their people. Adults discovered photos of themselves as junior handlers. Others joined the dialogue about past shows and hopes for shows to come. Mary’s page was group therapy decorated with fantastic photos.

This summer during her final weeks at Sloan, Mary called me so I’d reassure her roommate who was crying after a bad prognosis. The woman was devastated by the news and distraught since she had no one to take her German Shepherd. I offered the woman help placing her dog, and told her to keep my number. The woman went home without knowing about her roommate’s legacy of kindness, or that Mary had less time left on earth than she did.

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