Cool & Unusual: The State Of Ohio Does Something Good?!

According to WCPO News:

Ohio officially named “shelter pets” the state pet on Wednesday, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

The organization said that the designation will help raise public awareness for shelter animals and the shelters around the state full of pets waiting for their forever home.

The move comes thanks to the passing of Senate Bill 86, a bill created to enact special designations and declare historic sites throughout Ohio.

Besides a small sliver near Cleveland (Aurora & Solon where family roams) I generally hate Ohio for reasons I can’t entirely articulate. As soon as I-80 crosses the border from either Indy or PA, your odds of getting a speeding ticket increase exponentially. I’m not sure if it’s because they have a higher state trooper presence, or your natural instinct to hurry up & get the hell out of there kicks in.

But now I can at least say I love their state animal(s), especially when you look at the numbers according to Human Society’s site:

Though no national statistical database for pet issues exists, the ASPCA estimates that 5-7 million animals enter shelters each year, while the American Humane Association puts the figure at approximately 8 million animals.

10 to 20 percent of dogs and cats owned are adopted from shelters.

Anything to ‘up’ that 10% to 20% adoption rate is a good thing, so if naming Shelter Pets the Ohio state animal gets local shelters more shine I’m all for it.. Not sure if I’ll ever say this again, but “well done Ohio”.

Here’s a few from around Ohio just to tug the ‘ol heartstrings a little:

FYI: Here’s some other states who have Shelter Pets as their state animal:

Georgia
Tennessee
Colorado
California

In closing, I have to point out I searched ‘Ohio + animal’ for some other related Tweets I could throw in here & stumbled across the Ohio State Meat Club (?!) who championed for a bacon vending machine & I couldn’t leave it out even though it doesn’t fit.

Oh, and one more ‘in closing’ – shout out to one of my old rugby friends, Linds, for letting me use one of her photos from the Newnan-Coweta Humane Society on the thumbnail. She’s a photographer who does tons of great stuff for animals & it felt like a good fit. If you’re looking for a pet, give pups like these a chance: