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Louisiana SPCA has ‘Paw & Order’ special to help shelter dogs get adopted

Clearly some of these dogs were framed.

Louisiana SPCA|TikTok

Louisiana SPCA has 'Paw & Order' special to encourage adoption

Shelters are consistently full of animals, especially since people have gone back to work out of the home. There has been a steady influx of dogs that gets compounded by puppy season so shelters have to get creative with their marketing. Convincing families to add a permanent fixture to their lives can be a bit tricky. So shelter staff has done things like photo shoots, have kids write about the dogs and make up elaborate back stories on the animals temporment.

But this TikTok video from Louisiana SPCA has to be one of the most creative pet adoption attempts out there. The shelter created a "Paw & Order" special which shows each dog and their alleged crime that they're "in for." It's almost impossible to not want to go pick up one of the dogs after you see what kind of shenanigans they have been involved in.

The first puppy Mickey is apparently responsible for crimes in the local area. Not one crime, but all of the crimes. He's adorable so it's ok, right?

There was one dog who allegedly stole social security numbers just to have. She didn't use them to steal people's identities but just because she liked the smell of new social security numbers. A dog named Whoopsie Daisy was supposedly named "Accidental Manslaughter" before she came to the Louisiana SPCA. While the stories are obviously made up, giving these furry criminals elaborately funny backstories likely helps with adoptions and let's be fair, it's also pretty amusing to the staff.

PetSmart Charities National Pet Adoption Week is from July 10-14 and meeting a four-legged criminal from your local animal shelter at a PetSmart near you could be a great way to celebrate. They won't mind if you make up a story about them, promise. Just check out the suspects on "Paw & Order" below.

@laspca
Paw & Order #dogcrimes #catcrimes #shelterdogs

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Joy

Indiana police department lets people pay for parking tickets with donations to local animal shelter

Muncie Police Department

The Muncie Animal Care and Services Shelter in Indiana takes care of over 350 cats, but after touring the facility, the local Police Department found that they were running very low on supplies and wanted to help out.

In order to raise money, the Muncie Police Department let residents pay off unpaid parking tickets with donations to the shelter, Yahoo reports.

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RELATED: 12-year-old makes and donates bow ties to help shelter animals find their forever homes

"If you have a $25 parking ticket, you can bring up to $25 worth of cat food or litter to the Clerk's Office," Officer Jamie Browns said in a video explaining the program. "And you can get your parking ticket to go away with the exchange of the donation."

While the program ran for only four days, it was very successful, and the Muncie Police Department was overflowing with animal supplies. Not only were citizens were encouraged to pay off their parking tickets, but people who didn't even have parking tickets donated to the animal shelter. In fact, most of the donations came from people who just wanted to help out.

Needless to say, the Muncie Animal Care and Services Shelter was pleased to see all of the donations rolling in. "I don't know if the police department plans on doing this again, but we're incredibly grateful to them and the community. Their response was overwhelming," Ashley Honeycutt, the shelter's office manager, told CNN. "We are not the only shelter going through this right now. It's kitten season, and we encourage everyone to help their local shelter out."

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You don't have to have an unpaid parking ticket or live in Muncie, Indiana to give back to your local animal shelter. According to the ASPCA, nearly 6.5 million animals enter shelters every year, which means a lot of four-legged friends need our help.

It would be great to see programs like this extend to other cities; Knowing you could do something to help feed or care for a kitten would certainly take the edge off of getting a parking ticket.

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You can catch 'em all and help shelter dogs too.

Phil Pechingpaugh, director of the Muncie Animal Shelter in Indiana, was walking his dog and playing Pokémon Go with his daughter when he had a brilliant idea.

He noticed hoards of people walking around doing the exact same thing they were doing — catching Pokémon — only without a dog.

"I just thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could pair these people who are already out walking with shelter dogs who need exercise and stimulation?" Phil told Upworthy.

Photo from Phil Pechingpaugh, used with permission.

It sounded like the perfect partnership — people can get in a Pokéwalks while giving the pups some attention and fresh air at the same time.

Phil asked a friend to design simple ad. Little did he know how much attention it would draw.

"I didn’t expect much at all. I thought maybe we’ll get five or six people down here … but nothing like what we have received. We’ve had over 70 people in here today," Phil exclaimed.

Image from Phil Pechingpaugh, used with permission.

The people showing up to volunteer aren't just college kids playing Pokémon in their down time.

People of all ages have been coming from places near and far, Phil said, mentioning one girl who drove over two hours just so she could volunteer her time walking shelter dogs (and playing Pokémon, of course).

Phil's ad has already been shared on Facebook over 25,000 times and liked over 7,000 times on Twitter.

In the comments, people are posting with encouragement and love for this idea. It's as if everyone had just been waiting for a way to give back while collecting Squirtles and Pidgeys.

Photo by Karen Hastedt Borovsky/Facebook, used with permission.

With so many people showing up at the shelter in groups of three or four, the dog walkers had to develop a system in which one person would focus on dog walking while the others catch Pokémon.

"If you’re not responsible enough to do that, this probably isn’t the best option for you," Phil noted.

Phil hasn't had any problems with distracted dog walkers thus far, but he and his team do express caution to every person who comes in eager to give this fun, good Samaritan exercise a try.

The biggest compliment has come from other local shelters, Phil says.

"We’ve had other shelters that have reached out and said, 'now we’re going to do this.' I find that to be the biggest form of flattery," Phil told Upworthy.

Thanks to Phil, Pokémon Go may end up being responsible for a major uptick in shelter dog adoptions nationwide. He's already had a couple interested parties come in looking to adopt, and the Pokémon Dogs program has only been around for a day.

Photo by Trista Sydloski-Tesch/Facebook, used with permission.

Phil never would've imagined he'd be bring this much positive attention to Muncie and especially not because of a phone game. It just goes to show, small towns can make big splashes, especially when someone finds a way to combine fun with a good deed.

Here's why you need to take a tour of this blind cat sanctuary.

Blind or not, these furry felines have captured our hearts.

Welcome to the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, where all cats — whether they're blind, have FeLV, or are FIV-positive — have a home for life.

Pepper the cat and his friend JT. Photo from Blind Cat Rescue/Facebook, used with permission.

This wonderful place was created by North Carolina native Alana Miller together with her daughter back in 2005. The idea was born out of a single blind cat rescue Miller made while volunteering for another shelter.

"A man was going to leave this sick six-week-old kitten in the PetSmart parking lot if the shelter would not accept him. I found myself saying 'I will take him,'" Alana writes on the organization's website. From that moment on, she found herself constantly encountering similar situations because finding forever homes for sick or blind cats is, well, hard.

Once they had taken in four cats, BCRS became an official cat rescue. Now, they have 90 cats.

In 2005, they built a separate space on Miller's property just for blind cats who would've been euthanized by local shelters otherwise. In 2011, they built a separate compound for feline leukemia positive (FeLV+) cats and feline immunodeficiency virus positive (FIV+) cats. Despite common misconceptions, FIV+ cats can live long healthy lives and FeLV+ cats can remain healthy for years before getting sick.

Caroline, one of the cats who's FeLV+. Photo from Blind Cat Rescue/Facebook, used with permission.

"We are a lifetime care sanctuary, we are their lifetime home," Miller told Upworthy.

Anyone who wants to is more than welcome to come visit the cats, and they have open house days scheduled regularly.

The sanctuary is surrounded by a six-foot-tall white fence that allows the blind cats to walk around freely (they can't see the fence, so they don't try to climb it). Beyond that, blind cats are just like any other cats — they jump, they play, they get into crazy, out of reach places, and they pose hilariously.

"You talkin to me?" Photo from Blind Cat Rescue/Facebook, used with permission.

In fact, blind cats are actually more like super cats than their seeing counterparts. According to Miller, if you rearrange your furniture, blind cats will readjust to the new configuration almost immediately. Meanwhile, if I rearrange my own furniture in my apartment, there's a 99% chance I'll trip on it within the next hour. So blind cats: 1, Ally: 0.

BCRS has been drastically improving the lives of sick and blind cats for more than a decade, so why are we talking about them now?

Because they recently started making incredible videos using Facebook Live, which are being shared wildly across the internet.

Photo from Blind Cat Rescue/Facebook, used with permission.

Their shelter tour (which they just posted) already has over 11,000 views and 2,400 Likes. They also have a ustream channel where you can check out what's going on in the sanctuary 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So you know where I'll be if you need me.

However, if you're not into watching the entire 20-minute video, you can meet a few of the cats below:

Here's Atticus:

This gorgeous boy was found as a stray. He is FeLV+ but appears pretty happy and healthy (and competitive). GIF from Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary Inc./YouTube.

Introducing Mickey:

Just because Mickey's blind, doesn't mean he can't catch feather toys like a ninja. GIF from Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary Inc./YouTube.

And here's Marge:

Marge just cannot be bothered with this thing. GIF from Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary Inc./YouTube.

Of course there are many more adorable, hilarious, charming cats at the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, but you'll have to check out their site and/or watch their many videos on Facebook and YouTube to see them.

Subscribe to their pages, consider donating to their cause, and if nothing else, take their comprehensive tour here:

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The kids strengthen their reading and empathy and the dogs learn to trust.

This is the kind of story that will make you want to replicate this program near you.

We all know what's at stake for dogs in shelters. Their ability to connect with the humans who might adopt them is the main thing that can determine what fate befalls them.

The ASPCA estimates that each year close to the same number of pets in shelters get euthanized (31%) as get adopted (35%). The rest are reunited with owners whom they've gotten separated from.

What if that adoption-to-euthanization ratio could be significantly altered by helping animals become better socialized with people?

That's what makes the new Shelter Buddies Reading Program at the Humane Society of Missouri so crucial and brilliant.

"Can we do 'Frog and Toad Are Friends' next, pretty pleeeeeeease?" All images by Humane Society of Missouri, used with permission.

By pairing kids with hearts of gold with the pups who need their attention, it could be possible to change the outcomes for a lot of these dogs.

The program was just introduced in December 2015, and the shelter holds trainings for it once per month. Kids, ages 6-15, go through 10 hours of training to read dogs' body language for stress or nervousness. When they've completed the training, they're ready to sidle up next to a dog's room and begin connecting through reading, which they can come back and do as often as they like.

"Read it again! Read it again!"

The goal is to create dogs that are more adoptable AND help children exercise their empathy.

Jo Klepacki, the program's director at Humane Society of Missouri, said in an interview with The Dodo, "We wanted to help our shy and fearful dogs without forcing physical interaction with them to see the positive effect that could have on them."

"Did you see this?!" This kid is so excited to show this puppy the literary world, and the puppy is digging it.

Klepacki also noted the positive effects for their tiny-human participants:

"It's encouraging children to develop empathy with animals. It's a peaceful, quiet exercise. They're seeing fearfulness in these animals, and seeing the positive affect they can have. It encourages them to look at things from an animal's perspective. That helps them better connect with animals and people in their lives."

This story is clearly riveting.

Obviously this program should be a thing at every shelter in every city across America.

A good idea is a good idea. The proof will come over time, but not everything needs to be quantified and measured before it's implemented. It's a low-cost way to help both pets and people. If it turns out to be successful in getting more dogs adopted (and I suspect it will), the program will be even more likely to spread.

But even if all it ever does is improve the quality of life for these animals while they're in the shelter, that's worthwhile in itself.

Every animal lover and reading enthusiast needs to see this and consider bringing the program to their own local shelters!

From Your Site Articles

shelter animals

Louisiana SPCA has ‘Paw & Order’ special to help shelter dogs get adopted

Clearly some of these dogs were framed.

Indiana police department lets people pay for parking tickets with donations to local animal shelter

RELATED: 12-year-old makes and donates bow ties to help shelter animals find their forever homes

RELATED: Disabled animals are getting a second chance thanks to an amazing prosthetic expert

How Pokemon Go is helping this shelter get its dogs walked.

You can catch 'em all and help shelter dogs too.

Phil Pechingpaugh, director of the Muncie Animal Shelter in Indiana, was walking his dog and playing Pokémon Go with his daughter when he had a brilliant idea.

Phil asked a friend to design simple ad. Little did he know how much attention it would draw.

Phil's ad has already been shared on Facebook over 25,000 times and liked over 7,000 times on Twitter.

The biggest compliment has come from other local shelters, Phil says.

Here's why you need to take a tour of this blind cat sanctuary.

Blind or not, these furry felines have captured our hearts.

Welcome to the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, where all cats — whether they're blind, have FeLV, or are FIV-positive — have a home for life.

Once they had taken in four cats, BCRS became an official cat rescue. Now, they have 90 cats.

"We are a lifetime care sanctuary, we are their lifetime home," Miller told Upworthy.

BCRS has been drastically improving the lives of sick and blind cats for more than a decade, so why are we talking about them now?

Here's Atticus:

Introducing Mickey:

And here's Marge:

Subscribe to their pages, consider donating to their cause, and if nothing else, take their comprehensive tour here:

Beautiful things can happen when kids read to dogs.

The kids strengthen their reading and empathy and the dogs learn to trust.

This is the kind of story that will make you want to replicate this program near you.

That's what makes the new Shelter Buddies Reading Program at the Humane Society of Missouri so crucial and brilliant.

The goal is to create dogs that are more adoptable AND help children exercise their empathy.

Obviously this program should be a thing at every shelter in every city across America.

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