Andrea Rosebrock 
This sad story comes to us from San Jose, Ca. Cornelius Van Der Vies was a well-known
figure in downtown San Jose because of his friendly nature and his constant companion Boo Boo.
On Monday, 4/30/07, just before lunchtime on San Jose’s busy West Santa Clara Street according to witnesses, another homeless man began throwing things at Boo Boo and Van Der Vies jumped in to defend the animal. The man then turned on Van Der Vies and kick and beat him until he collapsed.
People who knew Van Der Vies have set up a make-shift memorial at the site and many people hearing the news for the first time wept openly.
Boo Boo is now at a shelter on Montery Hwy in San Jose and as many as 20 requests have come in to the adopt the now orphaned dog. Unfortunately this may never be the case. A shelter worker told a local newsreporter that due to Boo Boo’s history of bites, he may not be adoptable.
Now, wouldn’t this be a truly sad testament to a man’s death if the very dog he died trying to protect lost its own life??
OMG, how horrid. Its bad enough this man was homeless and then someone goes and does something like this???? I am a lawyer and I would flat REFUSE to even represent someone who did something so horrible. How truly sad!
It really is sad. For so many homeless, their pets are all they have and he died protecting his most precious companion. I have a great deal of respect for lawyers in general but I know it’s something I could never do if I ever came up against something that morally offended me. thanks For your comment Dariana!
[...] of you may have read my post, Homeless Man Protects His Dog Unto Death, the story of Cornelius Van Der Vies who died defend his dog, Boo Boo, from the attack of another [...]
[...] know alot of you are familiar with Boo Boo and his story. I did an update on Boo Boo a while back and now it looks like Boo Boo is ready to find a furever [...]
Boo Boo is alive and very well. It’s been over 2 years now. My wife(Kris) and I adopted Boo Boo. He is very well taken care of and loved. Cornelius did a great job training him.