Final Post

My name is Britany Fernandez Mar and I an a rising sophomore at Meredith College. I plan to major and Criminology and minor in Chemistry. I was interested in this course because I wanted to get the art requirement done, but also because I wanted some activity related course and not just literature about art. The most valuable thing about this course is being able to learn how to make the animals clam and really focus on helping the animals at the Wake County Animal Center be adopted. I had the opportunity to help adopt a bird at the shelter because I translated for a family that did not understand English. I was so excited that not only that the family was able to adopt a new pet, but also that I was offered a job to help the staff with translating. I learned how to understand and communicate with animals that before I would be scared of trying. For example I photographed all types of animals but I was scared of large dogs, and although I did not photograph much I would get in the kennel with them and try different techniques to get them calm. Also, I was able to become informed of how the shelter works on regular basis and how to use different camera techniques to get the best position of an animal. Helping through photographing can make an impact in the high overpopulation rate by having more adopters adopt animals and have those adopted animals neutered.  Having more animals neutered will decrease the rate of unwanted puppies and therefore allow the older animals to get adopted.

This image made a positive impact because this cat was adopted. His name is Stable, and he was adopted in the same week this photograph was taken and uploaded to the WCAS website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Pets of The Final Week!

Top 10 Photo's

Animal overpopulation is basically having more animals than there are homes for them. Having problems with overpopulation has caused lots of animal shelters to Euthanasia animals that are healthy because they do not have space for them. Sadly those animals are much older and cannot find homes. Based on the article Diluted puppy mill bill heads to House, basically applying welfare to breeders that have 10 or more breeder females. The main idea behind this is that welfare will provide for these animals but the breeders of pigs always shut the bill down because they treat pigs very bad. Based on this course overpopulation has not only shown me the problem with Euthanasia but also with pet owners that are cruel and are not responsible with their pets. I think the society is fast to judge overpopulation but not a lot of people are informed about the true problem and are also constantly blaming others and do not know that people that are breeders are the real problem because many that are breeders don't realize that we do not need new puppies, what we need is to take care of the adult dogs. However neutering a private own dog is something good that owners are doing to help with overpopulation. The above photos are the best photos for this course that I have taken. I think these photo's really show the animal's best side and make them look more adoptable.

Will I Continue?

After being at the animal shelter for a total of six weeks, of course I will volunteer full time at the shelter. Because of my busy schedule over the summer I was unable to go to the shelter more often but after classes are over I will be able to go more often and I also want to get a job the shelter. I want to get a part-time job and help out as much as I can. I love the shelter not only because I can help so many animals but also because I can help many visitors with translation. Because I speak Spanish a lot of people benefit from my translation in order to get more information about the pet. I also know most of the staff and they have been encouraging me to go work because they can really use my help.

I added this image because although it is not me at the shelter, I had to get her attention by being in the cage with her and then I cropped my hands out. I think most importantly people should know that as volunteers we do a lot to try to get the best picture to really show off the animal. Also for example this bird loved to fly around so having him in one spot was more challenging than people think. 

Three Steps

After volunteering at the Wake County Animal Center I have realize that the staff should be more involved with the volunteers. My first step would be to let the staff members actually have time an a specific task to just help the adopters. The reason I say this is because yesterday someone adopted a dog because I was there to guide her into which dog would fit her lifestyle. I think that because the most volunteers only know the dog or cat based on a sheet of paper than they do not really get assured to adopt the animal. My second step would be to have events that would inform people of the importance of neutering. This can be a where the whole county is invited even those who own pets already to stop have more pets than homes. My last step would be to give training classes for first-time adopters because that would eliminate any pets being returned because their owners could not handle them. The reason I came up with these steps is to make sure that the adopters are 100% sure that they can handle a new dog with all the responsibility. Both images are provided by the WCAS and show how all a component the shelter would have better results. 

Image provided by WCAS 6/12/2013

 

Image provided by WCAS 6/12/2013

Big Impact

The impact that photography can have at the shelter are adoptions, and more volunteers. If the photograph's make more adopters come to the shelter than more animals will get adopted. On the other side if more people want to get involved in a fun way by photographing, than coming to the shelter provides volunteers with photographing animals and helping save lives. The artistic skills come in handy when you want the animals to have a certain position that will make them look more adorable. Another example is having the animals be the primary focus and getting rid of the distracting and non-clean background.  Being at the Wake County Animal Center I have notice that there are a lot of posters about cute pets that make the visitors really want to take home a pet. Also these posters inform the visitors about helping lives and knowing the responsibility of adopting an animal. I think most importantly the animal shelter wants the adopters to feel 100% sure that they are going to love and take care of their new pet.

I put this image because this is one of the many posters around the shelter that really make the visitors want to adopt and make sure they can take care of their new pet. I think if the whole shelter was white without posters than there would be no additional push to adopt these pets in need. 

This Week's Adoptable Pets!