Pets have bucket lists, too.

And if being featured on the Humane Society of Pike County’s 2019 Pet Photo Calendar is on your pet’s bucket list, then you better get moving, said Donna Brockmann, society president.

“The clock is ticking toward the deadline for entry in the 2019 Pet Photo Contest at midnight, Saturday, so don’t let your pet be left out,” she said. “The Pet Photo Contest is the annual fundraiser for our spay/neuter program. The more entries we have, the more money we have to fund our spay/neuter program. Having animals spayed/neutered greatly reduces the number of unloved and unwanted dogs and cats in the county.”

Brockmann said seeing a starving and/or abused dog or cat is often the only visual needed to encourage Pike County citizens to get involved; or, sometimes, a few well-intended words.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are about 70 million stray animals living in the United States. Of that 70 million, only about six to eight million cats and dogs enter then nation’s 3,500 shelters every year.
“Animals must depend on us to provide for them and protect them,” Brockmann said. “Having dogs and cats spayed and neutered is humane. It’s what we can do to reduce the number of suffering animals.”
As of Monday, Brockman said only 27 animals have been entered in the 2019 Pet Photo Contest that will fund the society’s spay/neuter program.

“We need a minimum of 66 entries to complete the calendar with the cover, the monthly winners and 52 weekly winners,” she said. “This is my fourth year with the contest/calendar and every year it has been successful and it will be again this year because we are a caring community. We just need pet owners to snap a photo or select one of their favorites and enter them.

“Who wouldn’t want their pet featured on the calendar and who doesn’t want to reduce the number of abandoned, neglected and abused dogs and cats in Pike County? The entry fee is only $10 and voting is $1. For those small amounts, we can make a difference. We can reduce the number of stray animals and many Pike County an ever better place to live, to work and to play.”

The deadline for entry is Saturday, August 11. The voting deadline is 5 p.m. September 1.

There are two ways to enter a pet, by submitting online at www.pikehumane.org or picking up entry forms and leaving photos at Guynn’s Income Tax and Bookkeeping Service, Jinright’s Hillside Antiques, The Little Framery or Three Notch Antiques (formerly Troy Antiques), all in Troy.

The pet with the greatest number of votes will be featured on the cover of the 2019 Pet Photo Calendar. The pets with the 13 next highest votes will be honored as the monthly winners. There will be 52 weekly winners and the honorable mentions. All pets entered in the Pet Photo Contest will be pictured on the 2019 Pet Photo Calendar.