An extremely full animal shelter in Galesburg, Illinois reached out asking the community to donate chairs to homeless dogs waiting to be adopted and they rallied!
The Knox County Humane Society No-Kill Animal Shelter posted a video, showing dogs resting comfortably in their gently used chairs. What's amazing is the community made this possible by donating the big sofas to the shelter. Now the video has been shared more than 224,000 times!
According to The Knox County Humane Society No-Kill Animal Shelter as reported by WJXT News4Jax:
"The shelter pets absolutely love their chairs! If anyone has any older chairs they no longer want, please think of the shelter pets!"
Knox County Humane Society operates as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing cruelty to animals. As a nonprofit Humane Society dedicated to preventing cruelty to animals, they are focused on "helping make the world around us a better, happier place." They are also a no-kill facility serving the Knox County area, only calling in a vet for euthanasia in extreme cases where it is in the animals' best interest.
Their motto? Saving lives, four paws at a time.
These shelter pets absolutely love their chairs! Let's see if we can help them get past 224,000 shares. Here is the video.
Shelters Are Embracing Environmental Enrichment for Homeless Animals
Environmental enrichment is the process of manipulating an animal's environment to increase physical activity & normal species-typical behavior that satisfies the animal's physical and psychological needs. It reduces stress and therefore promotes overall health by increasing an animal's perception of control over their environment. The animal adoption process is difficult enough so shelters across the nation are embracing ways to incorporate environmental enrichment. Loving homes in some places are hard to come by!
And shelters are stressful! Shelter staff can do a number of activities to ease the stress of the adoptable animals. Offering a calm environment that feels more like "home" is clearly working at this shelter. The Knox County Animal Shelter is thinking outside the box to ensure these homeless animals feel comfortable while waiting for their forever homes.
If anyone has any older chairs they no longer want, please think of the shelter pets! Perhaps introduce this idea to your local shelter. We know the homeless pets will love this addition to their environment. Just visit your Goodwill store and pick one up!
UPDATE!
Look how many chairs were donated!
What do you think about donating chairs to shelters? Let us know in the comments section how you're helping homeless pets!
Videos courtesy of Knox County Humane Society
This post was originally published on March 3, 2018.
