The Humane Society of Southern Wisconsin is highlighting its ‘Unicorn’ Foster Program. You may be asking yourself – “A foster program for mythical creatures??” While that is not true, the answer is not far off!
In the animal foster world, a ‘unicorn’ describes a foster family that does not have any other pets in their home. These homes are about as rare as the mythical horned horses known as unicorns are – hence the name given to describe them. Because these families do not have other pets in their home, they are able to foster a wider range of pets such as cats that do not play nice with other feline or canine friends or dogs that are happiest as the only pet in the home.
Unicorn Foster Families are incredibly important as oftentimes the pets that would do best in a home without other pets are the ones that need a foster home the most. Unfortunately, because this high need is coupled with the low availability of Unicorn Fosters, these pets are often unable to go into foster care and remain in shelter while they search for a loving family to take them in. This can create further challenges as how dogs act in a shelter environment usually isn’t a reflection of their true personalities.
“Behaviors on display in shelters are often a reaction to the stress of being in the shelter in the first place,” says Brittany Fleming, adoption and foster manager for St. Louis-based Gateway Pet Guardians an organization that teaches rescues and shelters how to create their own unicorn foster programs. “Once you take those dogs out of the environment and put them into a home, a lot of those behaviors — sometimes all of them — disappear entirely.”
As with all of our foster families – Unicorn and beyond – HSSW provides all supplies, food, veterinary care, etc. that foster families need to take care of their foster pets. This means that there is no cost to you to foster a pet! Everyone who is able to open up their homes to fostering is absolutely encouraged to do so – even if they are not a Unicorn. For more information about fostering, visit our website, www.petsgohome.org.
To round out the year, we have two events coming up – Photos with Santa and our new idea that we have been calling ‘The Giving Tree.’
Photos With Santa is an annual event that we hold in partnership with K&W Greenery in Janesville, WI. This event will be held at K&W Greenery from 10am-2pm on Sunday, December 1st. The fee is only $20 to be professionally photographed by Rural Vibe Photography in a gorgeous scene in the greenhouse – plus, pets are very welcome! Santa will be there, but you are not required to include him in your photos. And all families can expect to receive 1-3 photos depending on the number of poses done and how cooperative everyone being photographed is feeling.
Our Giving Tree is a new idea for us this year that we hope the community can really get behind. This will be an online event of sorts where we list our top needs of the shelter with an option to donate directly to that need. We’ll also have progress thermometers to show how close we are to achieving our goals! We are still putting the final touches on it all, but keep an eye on our website, www.petsgohome.org, for more information.
For further details, you can also contact HSSW directly at (608) 752-5622 or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheHumaneSociety.
