Shelter Dogs & Cats

Illinois State Pet

shelterKittens.jpg

Shelter kittens

Black and white shelter kittens; Grady and Gabe.  Photo by Ali Crehan/Flickr (Use Permitted with Attribution/No Derivative Works).

Official State Pet of Illinois

Illinois designated "shelter dogs and shelter cats that are residing in or have been adopted from a shelter or rescue facility in this State" as the official state pet of the state of Illinois (effective August 25, 2017).

Illinois joins four other states recognizing rescued and shelter pets as official symbols (California, Tennessee, Colorado, and Georgia). All State Dogs & Cats

Currently there are around eight million abandoned pets living in animal shelters in the United States and three to four million of these dogs and cats are euthanized every year.

Illinois

Images

"Rescue Mutt" - one of the lucky dogs. Photo by Andrew Dixon/Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / no derivative works).

Rescued dog, mutt

BFF dog and cat; photo by Dimas Streich on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).

BFF dog and cat

Pablo and Maggie May; two of our six rescues Photo by State Symbols USA. (use permitted with attribution).

Small dog cuddling with cat

Videos

If this video about a shelter dog doesn't move you, check your pulse!