The Rescue Lady is a character from the Lilo & Stitch franchise, first appearing in the original film. She helps Lilo adopt Stitch when he lands in her animal shelter. She also made a few guest appearances in Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
In the original film, the character's full name is Susan Hegarty. In the 2025 live-action film, the character is renamed and credited as AJ.
Background and appearances[]
Lilo & Stitch (2002)[]
Susan runs Aloha Animal Rescue, where Stitch ends up being flung into while escaping from Jumba and Pleakley. At the same time, Nani comes to the shelter to get Lilo a pet to curb her behavior, and Lilo just so happens to find Stitch and instantly becomes fascinated with him. When Stitch is shown to Susan, she gets frightened by his appearance at first but eventually calms down after Lilo says she wants to adopt him.
Lilo & Stitch: The Series[]
In "Sample", Susan calls a pair of "alien hunters" named Merwin and Dean to deal with Experiment 258 (Sample), who had been captured and brought to the shelter.
In "Babyfier", Susan points out to Lilo and Stitch that Mr. Patterson, an old dog at the pound, has been waiting for months to be adopted and that his time is just about up. Lilo then cleverly unleashes Experiment 151 (Babyfier), who turns the old dog into an adorable puppy. Almost immediately after, Mr. Patterson is adopted from the shelter by a little boy who was instantly attracted by him.
In "Skip", Susan presents Experiment 089 (Skip) to Lilo when she asks if there have been any new "dogs" brought to the animal shelter lately. She then lets Lilo take Skip home with her.
Lilo & Stitch (2025)[]
AJ is an employee at Nā Mea Ola Animal Rescue who is acquainted with and exasperated by Lilo, who is implied to be a regular visitor there. When Lilo rings the bell for service, AJ stops her ringing and lets Lilo see the dogs inside, provided that she does not feed the dogs candy, forcing her to surrender her candy to avoid giving the dogs diarrhea. After Lilo screams excitedly at the sight of a blue-furred alien who she believes to be a dog and hugs him, AJ and Tūtū rush in seconds later to separate them. AJ tries to suggest Lilo that the shelter has "better dogs", but Lilo decides to adopt the blue "dog", naming him "Stitch" later.
Trivia[]
- The animated Rescue Lady's name is not mentioned onscreen but appears on the adoption papers she has Nani sign.
- Disney Speedstorm, a 2023 video game in which the character appears as a crew member to support the Lilo & Stitch racers, uses her real name, marking the first time that any official Disney media credits her as "Susan Hegarty" instead of "Rescue Lady".
- The original Rescue Lady is named after her original voice actress, a dialect coach and occasional voice actress who worked on films like Pocahontas, Titanic, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ratatouille, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Gallery[]
Lilo & Stitch (2002)[]
Lilo & Stitch: The Series[]
"Skip"[]
