Ordinary People, Extraordinary Work
by admin
Far more goes into animal rescue than most people ever realize. Fundraising, advertising, veterinary care, counseling, education… the list goes on and on. There is a need for nearly every talent… and the smallest changes can have a huge impact.
Just like everything else these days, the most common place for people to start looking for a pet is online. The primary resource being, www.petfinder.com. This site is allows only legitimate rescue groups to display their adoptable animals. Users can search by type, breed, name and location. All types of pets are available – from cats to lizards to pigs – each one in need of a forever home.
Advertising adoptable animals is essential and with countless families being able to see so many right from home, PetFinder may be the single greatest asset to animal adoption – ever. They report over one million annual adoptions, but I would venture it guess it is much higher than that. I experienced the power of their site first hand when working as the Adoption Counselor at the Humane Society. An animal could be at the shelter for days without any interest. The minute their photo hit PetFinder, the interest would start and applications would come in… like magic.
The absolute most important part of any PetFinder listing is the photograph. With so many dogs to choose from, it is essential to capture an adopter’s attention and a great photo does just that. Dogs can be super speedy though and capturing their true personality through a lens takes talent.
AARF is very fortunate to have an extremely talented volunteer pet photographer that visits AARF weekly (sometimes twice a week) to capture our newest adoptable dogs. Her name is Steph Skardal and her talent is limitless. Her photographs always have an air of happiness and playful joy. A few of my favorites:
For more images, check out her gallery, blog and website here: stephskardal.com. Reminder: she is a professional, available for hire to capture your best friend’s personality forever! hint, hint… anyone looking for a great gift for me 🙂
Every week, her images get better and better. Without a doubt, her work has increased adoption rates and helped AARF save even more desperate animals.
On an even grander scale, volunteer photographers like Steph provide another service to animals. Their work removes the stigma that shelter animals are unattractive, dirty, discards and shows the world the beautiful individuals they really are.
Changing lives, one photograph at a time, those are definitely ordinary people, doing extraordinary work!
***Please note: This post was updated on 1-25-12 at 6:30 PM to remove all mention of two other organizations I unintentionally misrepresented. My apologies for anyone that may have been offended. Both groups do amazing work and have my deepest respect.