The Nowata Animal Shelter in OK has 23 dogs in need of homes. After hearing rumors that the dogs were going to be shot to death on January 1st, I called the shelter yesterday to ask about the pets there. I was advised that the facility is at full capacity for dogs and some of them have been there for many months. On January 1st, the shelter will evaluate the status of each dog. I asked the method of euthanasia and the ACO I spoke with said he did not know the method but that a veterinarian would do it. I asked if the pound had a gas chamber and he said no. I also inquired about cats at the shelter and he said they have 7, all of whom are available for adoption and space is not an issue for the cats.
The shelter has no website nor does it list its pets online. But it does have something great going for it: a professional photographer who takes beautiful photos of the dogs and posts them on Facebook. Below are a couple of the dogs currently at the shelter with captions provided by the photographer, Sherry Stinson.
If you look through the photos of these dogs, you will notice how strikingly beautiful each one is. Do you think that somehow the Nowata shelter managed to fill its kennels with the prettiest homeless dogs in the country? Of course not. The dogs at every shelter are just as beautiful with just as much personality but they don’t have the benefit of being lovingly photographed by a professional. Non-professionals can do a very good job taking photos too, if they make it a priority. Unfortunately, some shelters don’t seem to care about giving their pets the best possible chance for adoption by getting decent photos to share online. Luckily for the dogs at the Nowata shelter, they have a caring friend in the photography business.
If you’d like to adopt a pet from the Nowata shelter, it’s open Monday through Friday from 8am to 3pm. I asked if they would be closed any weekdays during the holidays and was told they would not. The adoption fee is $20 and the adopter must get the pet vaccinated and neutered at his regular vet clinic.
Thank you so much for posting about these OK dogs!
I wish every shelter would post all their pets on intake online so people could see them. How do they expect to adopt out pets without up to date marketing? Every shelter needs to post all their pets on petfinder and other pet listing sites. They also should consider starting a page on Facebook where they can network their pets. Facebook makes it easy for people to share a pet in need of a home.
I tweeted and Facebooked (do the same please): #OK #AnimalShelter #Pets Shine w/Help of #pet #Photographer http://ow.ly/89i6C #dogs need homes! SHARE
A web page shouldn’t be so difficult for them to get – but then I tried to look up the city information, and it seems that either there is no city government, or they don’t want to bother with putting up a webpage, which, in this day and age, is just odd, to say the least. Do they have any volunteers other than the wonderful photographer? The Nowata schools have a website – maybe someone at the school could guide some students towards setting up and maintaining a website for the shelter?
a picture.. especially a GREAT one say more than thousand words what great shots.. and darling and beautiful dogs..
Thank you for the wonderful write-up! As of today, 12-24-11, twelve of the dogs are completely safe, going to fosters, new homes or transports. I have assurances from the shelter that NONE of the animals will be euthanized, so this is indeed a Christmas miracle. In fact, sweet little Sissy, the German Shepherd mix, was driven to St. Louis last night, where her new owners drove to pick her up and go back to their home in Illinois for Sissy’s first Christmas in her forever home! Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!
Merry Christmas Shirley! Your blog does so many many good good things for so many shelter animals. The miracle really is that there are people who care so much and work so hard to make things better for not only shelter animals but for all of us.
The fact that one article gave twelve dogs homes in just a couple short days is a Christmas gift that warms the heart and brings tears to my eyes. THANK YOU.
To you, Billy, Surrey and your other critters HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
All the credit for saving these dogs goes to the rescuers, networkers and transporters helping to get these dogs home. But thank you kindly for the holiday wishes and back atcha. I have a special post to put up for Christmas that I think everyone will enjoy.
What is the FB link? Can’t find it. Those pics are stunning!
This story is over a year old and the page converted to a new Facebook page: http://www.fb.com/tylerdogphotography