JAMESTOWN, NY (WNY News Now) – It’s time to tie your sneakers and leash your pooch, the Chautauqua County Humane Society’s Walk 4 Paws event is coming up, and registration is officially open.
Taking place at a brand-new location, Panzarella Island Park, the pet-friendly fundraiser is back and with some new activities for humans and furry-friends alike, such as pet portraits and even a scavenger hunt.
“We’re going to have some fun things along with the walk, we’re going to have a couple of local photographers, they’re going to be doing pet portraits and family portraits with their pets, we’re going to do something that we’ve done for enrichment here at the shelter for a while now, pet art. This is art that your pet will create, paintings, and it’s safe and it’s something that the dogs love, the cats do it, it’s really cool so we’re going to let people have the opportunity to try that out. We’ll kind of let people see a little bit behind the scenes of what happens at the shelter to enrich the animals here because it’s as important at home to enrich as it is here,” explained director of communications Brian Papalia.
All four-legged-friends are welcome as long as they feel comfortable.
“This is a time, it’s family friendly and pet friendly, mostly dogs, it’s a lot of dogs but sometimes the occasional cat will come if they’re comfortable in that environment, if you feel it’s safe for them, if you’re comfortable with them being in that environment, we never want anybody to feel uncomfortable, to come on down. It’s a walk around the Riverwalk, this is the first time we’ve done that, it’s always been a big fundraiser for the shelter,” said Papalia.
The Walk 4 Paws event is one of the biggest fundraisers the shelter holds, and staff are hopeful for the outcome.
“As everybody knows, things are expensive right now. If you have a pet at home, two pets at home, we have like 100 pets or more. It covers our foster program, our pet pantry which we last year gave out 24,000 pounds of food, we’re at like 18 already this year and we ran out twice. The needs are there, we’re doing the best we can to fill them, and this is how it works,” Papalia said.
The Walk 4 Paws will take place at the Panzarella Island Park on Saturday, September 16th. In person registration starts at 10 a.m and it is $25 per person and includes a pet bandana and one ticket to participate in the newly added activities. There will be additional fundraising opportunities upon registration. To sign-up online, you can visit chqhumane.org.
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