For animal shelters, one of the most important and challenging tasks is finding perfect forever homes for all the pets. Part of the job is just getting the word out, telling the animals’ stories to the public and hoping someone is inspired to give them a home.
Shelters use all kinds of methods to promote their animals, from free adoption events to putting their faces on pizza boxes. But recently, one man took an extraordinary step to promote one shelter dog who has been waiting a long time for a home.
According to KMBC, a man named Scott Poore recently purchased a billboard advertisement, 30 feet above the I-35 in Mission, Kansas. While these eye-catching billboards are usually used to promote businesses, Scott had a very different idea: the billboard was for a dog named Sally Sue.
Sally Sue is a shelter dog, living in the ALways and Fur-Ever Animal Sanctuary in Spring Hill. She’s been waiting over 500 days to find her forever home.
“Sally has been living at the farm for over a year now and even though she is loved by the staff and volunteers, she deserves a forever home,” Mission Driven wrote in a Facebook post. “We realize that she has some challenges and will need a special home, but we know her hero is out there.”
So Scott decided to help this dog get a little publicity, hoping the giant ad will attract potential adopters.
“Will you adopt me?” the billboard reads, along with a photo of the 11-year-old pit bull mix.
Why a billboard? While it’s an unusual move, Scott hopes that it will attract interest beyond the same people on social media.
“Social media, we tend to promote the same story to the same people. A billboard especially on I-35, it’s going to get thousands of views,” Scott told KMBC.
“All we need is that one right person to go by, make eye contact with the billboard and we’re saving another life.”
Scott, from Kansas City, is an animal advocate already known for doing unusual stunts for the sake of helping long-term shelter dogs.
In 2019, he went viral after he moved into an animal shelter to help a terrier mix named Queen get adopted, after she had been waiting over 400 days for a home:
Hopefully, his latest eye-catching stunt will help Sally Sue finally get a home — but that’s just the beginning.
Scott hopes that he can keep the billboard up to promote dogs year-round. While it’s an expensive endeavor, he’s working on the funding.
And once Sally Sue gets adopted, he’ll give the space to another shelter dog in need.
“As quickly as we do that, move onto the next shelter pet that deserves to be up there,” Scott told KMBC. “The dogs that’ll be on the billboard are the ones that have been homeless the longest.”
What a great idea to help shelter dogs in need of homes! We’re hoping that Sally Sue finds a forever home soon thanks to this billboard.
If you are interested in adopting, you can reach out to Always and Furever for more information.
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