Plan B Forum

Rainbow bridge to memorialise kids’ dead pets vandalised – and everyone’s saying the same thing



A rainbow bridge created by a Girl Scout troop to memorialise pets that have passed away has been vandalised – and people think anti-LGBTQ+ bigots are behind it.

The Biggest Little Rainbow Bridge – located in Crissie Caughlin Park in Reno, Nevada – was created by local Girl Scout Troop 508.

The troop made the wooden bridge as a “beautiful and peaceful place” where people could come to “mourn the loss of our beloved four-legged family members who have crossed the rainbow bridge into the great beyond and reflect on the memories we have made with them”.

The bridge, which was originally a reddish-brown colour, was painted with different coloured stripes that when looked at together create a rainbow to represent the ‘rainbow bridge’ – a concept which refers to the safe, mythical place where pets go when they pass away.

When the bridge was announced by the Parks and Recreation department of the Reno city government on social media, many locals praised the thoughtful initiative put together by the youngsters and said they would visit to remember the special animals in their lives.

Others, rather tongue-in-cheek, noted the rainbow colours would likely offend anti-LGBTQ+ bigots and “infuriate those that can’t comprehend a rainbow is not always an LGBTQ symbol”, which they described as a “two birds, one stone” win.



Not long afterwards, however, the bridge was sadly vandalised, with white paint being poured over the coloured-wood.

“I just want to say congratulations to whoever did this. Congratulations on defacing a bridge made by little girls no older than 12 so that people could say goodbye to their pets,” a local resident said, as quoted by a local Instagram page.

“It breaks my heart,” they added.