Greene County Animal Control: Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Our grant money was used to purchase a new Canon digital camera with accessories to enhance the photos and a case to carry and protect the camera. Additionally, we purchased an iPad with a case and a kiosk stand and software to process, enhance and edit the photos.

Our adoptable animals must compete in a digital and social-media world with other agencies and rescues, and often the picture is 1,000 words that we cannot always speak. This grant has allowed us the ability to not only get quality pictures but also get the "special picture" that sometimes coveys the real personality behind the our animals and allows our viewers to really see what we see in that pet. It also helps our followers to not only see that animal is in need of a home, but how that animal may fit into their home. With the digital software, we can not only edit and enhance the pictures, but we can use imagery and frames to make them more eye-catching and fun for our public.

The iPad gives us the opportunity to also capture the special moments in pictures and in video when we are at adoption events and share them on our social media. We can also showcase animals who are still at the shelter by using the iPad when it is in the kiosk.

We have just recently started in the last few weeks due to government end-of-year finance delays and shipping delays. It has been very hard to contain the excitement of our staff and volunteers, who have patiently be waiting for the issues to get resolved and the equipment to come in, but we hit the ground running with setting up, training and getting those perfect shots!

How many pets did this grant help?

To date, 25 adoptable animals over one and a half weeks, with so many more in the coming months.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Almost immediately after taking and posting picture of our dog Chloe (first photo), a small chocolate pit mix, we had a potential adopter contact us about her. They had seen her new picture on our website and instantly thought she was the right fit for their home. After speaking with our staff about her, they agreed to come in the next day and instantly fell in love. She was adopted less than 24 hours after that new picture.

We look forward to MANY more success stories and cannot thank the Petfinder Foundation enough for this opportunity for our homeless animals!