In a creative attempt to adopt out more animals, volunteers at the Irving Animal Care Campus are going vogue. They're taking each cat and dog that comes into their facility and dressing them up for a photoshoot.
DFW Humane Society volunteer Amy Maxey has been photographing the animals for about eight months. “I adopted my dog Betty from the Irving Animal Care Campus. When I saw him online he had a horrible photo, and I thought, well, I can take a better photo than that,” she said.
Maxey is not a professional photographer. But with the help with numerous costume donations, she said she has enjoyed seeing the animals transform when groomed for their close-ups. “We're giving them a complete makeover. When an animal first comes into a shelter especially the dogs, it's very hard to get a good photo of them,” she said.
Maxey has been posting her photos on Facebook (the page is called Urgent Animals at the Irving Animal Shelter) which now has close to 13,000 likes from fans around the world. “Oh it’s awesome when people say 'Oh I saw this photo on Facebook,' or 'I saw it on the city website' and they come down here and adopt an animal," she said.
Hurst resident Joyce Turner said her daughter in Oklahoma saw a Jack Russell on Facebook and wanted her to help rescue him. “I heard that the dog is going to be a service dog, once it reaches its home in New York or New Jersey. It's going to be a useful dog,” she said.
Professional photographer Debra Johnson said she also volunteers her time once every 60 days. She hope her skill can help these animals find loving homes. “Because I can't take every animal home, the best use of my skill is to be able to take a good quality portrait that makes an animal look like the animal that you would have as your companion, your pet, or your children's playmate,” she said.
