Angels with Tales Hits the Streets of the Magnificent Mile
View the latest Angels with Tails Adoption Event information here
June 10, 2007 marks the Tenth Anniversary of Angels with Tails, the event that launched PAWS Chicago.
This adoption event was developed to showcase homeless pets in public venues where people would see the faces of Chicago’s sweet, loving cats and dogs. For decades, tens of thousands of homeless pets were killed each year in Chicago, and very few in the general public were aware of this practice. On May 30, 1998, Angels with Tails broke the silence surrounding the death of thousands of homeless pets by taking the message to the public on the streets and in the boutiques along Michigan Avenue and Oak Street. Since that day, the number of homeless pets killed in Chicago has been reduced by more than half: from 42,572 animals killed in 1997, to 19,701 in 2006.
After reading in a Sun-Times article detailing the massive killing of homeless animals in Chicago, PAWS founder Paula Fasseas was motivated to help create change. The Sun-Times article only confirmed what her teenage daughter told her after volunteering at the local shelter: hundreds of homeless pets were dying every day, and nothing was being done in the public eye to stop this tragic killing.
Fasseas recruited professionals from Chicago’s business community to find a way to bring the public’s attention and resources to this problem. To be motivated, people had so see the wonderful pets in need of homes—their hearts had to be touched.
Angels with Tails was born with the rationale that bringing thousands of people to shelters to see sad animals behind bars was a difficult task, but bringing wonderful homeless pets to the people in densely populated shopping districts was plausible.
By organizing an event with shelters and stores partnering to bring information about the pet overpopulation problem to the public, real change could be made and lives could be saved.
Twelve retail partners, including Ralph Lauren, Barneys New York, and Escada, opened their doors for the day to cats and dogs in need of new homes. Putting the faces of homeless animals in highly visible locations attracted new adopters, the media, and general public interest to the cause. Eight shelters participated by bringing pets available for adoption, marking the first time that shelters came from throughout Chicagoland to work together.
Friends of PAWS founding members were recruited to pass out pamphlets in the street, detailing the realities of the city’s tragic pet overpopulation crisis and the resulting rate of euthanasia while other volunteers drove unsuspecting shoppers to Animal Care & Control on Western Avenue to adopt pets they’d fallen in love with.
Since this was the first time Animal Control had allowed animals off premise, no remote adoption program was in place. The event was a huge success. Media and community response was tremendous, every animal was adopted, people were looking for ways to get involved, and PAWS Chicago was born.
This year, 49 stores and 28 shelters and rescue groups will celebrate the tenth annual adoption event on the Mag Mile. On August 26, 2007, join PAWS Chicago for the 10th annual Angels with Tails on Armitage Avenue.
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