National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week takes place each year during the first full week in November.  The Humane Society of the United States founded National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week in 1996 to acknowledge and promote the role of animal shelters in communities all over the country.

The event recognizes the important work that shelters do in providing care for millions of abandoned and stray animals while they await their chance at finding a loving home. They also provide other critical services such as investigating cruelty and neglect, providing education to children in the care of animals, and in some cases providing spay/neuter services.

This important week is a chance for everyone to see what they can do to get involved and offer support.

Here are a few ways you can get involved:

• Become a fan of your local shelter on Facebook or Instagram.

• Volunteer at your local shelter. Helping animals can be a very meaningful and rewarding experience.

• Donate supplies. Shelters are often in need of towels, toys, pet food and other items. It is a good idea to contact your local shelter to check what items they need.

• Become a foster parent to an animal in need as they wait for a forever home.

• Organize an Animal Shelter Drive to raise much needed funds. Collaborate with friends, family, school or work community to manage this effort.

• Adopt your next pet from a shelter.
  
  

Here is what I do to offer support:

As a professional pet photographer in the Toronto area, I offer my photography services by taking photos of rescue animals at a shelter to aid in finding them a loving home. Professional quality photos can improve the image of both animal shelters and of the animals in need.

While I will offer these pro-bono services to most rescue and shelter groups, I work mainly with the Etobicoke Humane Society because of the incredible dedication of its team of volunteers who keep the shelter running. Everyone involved at EHS is a volunteer, including their board of directors, shelter workers, office workers and program coordinators. EHS has no paid employees.

EHS calls themselves “ a small shelter with a big heart” and that is so true. With space for only 30 to 40 cats and nine dogs, they rely heavily on foster homes to house additional animals.  I d0 as much as I can to support them by meeting foster parents in their back yards for photos of their foster dogs and also photographing the cats that are kept in the shelter as they await a foster or permanent home.

Photographing animals in a shelter can be extremely challenging, given the lack of beautiful surroundings and having to photograph the cats in their kennels.  But we all do what we can! Here are some images of shelter animals taken in the last few months. I hope that these sweet creatures have by now found a permanent loving home.

If you would like to know more about a photo session for your own rescue or adopted dog, please feel free to contact me to ask any questions you may have. I would love to hear from you.