SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Pat Derby — a former Hollywood trainer for Flipper, Lassie and other performing animals who later devoted her life to protecting them after seeing widespread abuse — has died at age 69, her organization said Monday.

Derby, who had throat cancer, died Friday at her home in the biggest of the animal sanctuaries run by her organization, the Performing Animal Welfare Society, or PAWS, in San Andreas, Calif., outside Sacramento. Her longtime partner and the organization’s co-founder, Ed Stewart, was at her side, a PAWS statement said.

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