Aransas County Animal Control reports 90% live release rate, launches new outreach program<\/a><\/p>\nFriends and supporters say Cochran\u2019s legacy is deeply personal \u2014 and unmatched.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s got a special place in our hearts. I mean, really, she does,\u201d said Gloria Hicks, a longtime friend and supporter. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be another Ernie Cochran ever in our city. She\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks has adopted 14 dogs over her lifetime and said when it came time to give back, Peewee\u2019s \u2014 founded by her friend of more than 40 years \u2014 was always her first choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople that had millions of dollars would give to her, and after they pass away, it\u2019s still in their wills, and they still give to her,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cThey gave to Peewee\u2019s because they knew that it \u2014 the money \u2014 was handled correctly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cochran retired in April 2025 but remained closely tied to the organization she built. Supporters say she was known for personally ensuring animals were placed in the right homes \u2014 and that until then, they always had a home with her.<\/p>\n
Connie Baird with South Texas Animal Rescue worked alongside Cochran and her clinic for years and described her as a hero within the animal welfare community.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was absolutely a hero. She is a hero,\u201d Baird said. \u201cI hope someday this place is changed to \u2018Ernie\u2019s Place.\u2019 This was Ernie\u2019s place. This was Ernie\u2019s heaven. She loved it here. She loved every minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baird also shared the moment Cochran said inspired her life\u2019s mission \u2014 a serious car accident in the early 1990s that ultimately led her to turn a 100-acre property into an animal refuge.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was in a bad car accident, and when she was in that accident, she was hurt really bad,\u201d Baird said. \u201cAnd she told God, \u2018If you let me live through this, I\u2019ll do what you need me to do.\u2019 She said that God told her, \u2018This is what you\u2019re supposed to be doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Those close to the organization say Cochran\u2019s work will continue as normal under her longtime prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Bobby George.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo also released a statement honoring Cochran\u2019s impact on the community, saying, \u201cFew people leave a legacy as profound as Ernie\u2019s. Through her rescue work, she saved thousands of dogs and showed our community what true compassion looks like in action. Her impact will be felt for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community members continue to share messages of support and gratitude for a woman many credit with changing \u2014 and saving \u2014 countless lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community members rally around Peewee\u2019s Pet Adoption founder Ernie Cochran as she remains critically ill battling stage 4…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-132817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}