We recently discovered a 29-year-old VHS tape of footage from PAWS' 1988* Gala & Awards Banquet held in Sacramento, California. The quality is not the greatest, but we hope fans of Amanda Blake and "Gunsmoke", animal lovers and animal advocates, as well as friends and supporters of PAWS then and now, enjoy this little piece of history.

Amanda Blake, known to millions of adoring fans as "Miss Kitty" from Gunsmoke, was living at our Galt sanctuary in 1988, and had helped her friends - PAWS founders Pat Derby and Ed Stewart - promote the gala event. She donated items for the evening's auction and was set to give a short speech about the work that needed to be done to stop elephant poaching for the ivory trade. Amanda had no idea that she was actually the star of the evening and would be receiving a special award for a lifetime spent advocating for animals — both domestic and wild.

For more information about the Performing Animal Welfare Society visit our website at http://pawsweb.org/

For information about the Amanda Blake Memorial Wildlife Refuge and Museum, click here: http://www.pawsweb.org/amanda_blake_m...

*Several years after we posted this video we uncovered the actual Western Union telegraph from Dennis Weaver. The telegraph is dated May 19, 1989. At the time we posted this video all we had to go on was the date written on the old VHS tape.