Naming NC Shelter Pets As State Animals

27/05/2022

Received this message from Rep. Cynthia Ball regarding our proposal: "We spoke with Rep. Rudow's office this morning. Drafting has advised that designating a new state symbol is not possible during short session give the limitations that have been set on bills. Drafting said they would get back to us next session." She closed with a bit of optimism saying "hopefully we can work on it soon!" Thank you to Rep. Ball, Rep. Grier Martin, Rep. Caleb Rudow and others for supporting our proposal. They represent different parts of North Carolina. Interestingly, our local reps. in New Hanover and Pender Counties never made a statement about our proposal even though we contacted them several times.

17/05/2022

Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 18, the Short Session begins in Raleigh and we will find out if our proposal to make shelter pets the state animal in North Carolina has gained enough support to earn attention from the state legislature.

16/05/2022

Natalie Mooney, Multimedia journalist for Spectrum News 1 in Wilmington, is planning to do a story about our proposal. I'll keep you informed as to when it will air.

03/05/2022

PAWPRINTS MAGAZINE SUPPORTS PROPOSAL TO NAME NC SHELTER PETS AS STATE ANIMALS ... PawPrints Magazine, a monthly publication read by thousands of pet lovers in Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, Pender, New Hanover and Onslow Counties, has come out in support of our proposal. "Any measures that can hep bring awareness to homeless animals should be explored. This classification could be beneficial in reducing the time dogs and cats spend in shelters as well, reducing unnecessary deaths of healthy adoptable pets,"

10/04/2022

Starting this week, we are making a big push to NC legislators to support our proposal to get it considered in Special Sessions in June. Please write your State Representative and State Senator to seek their support of our proposal. You can get the name and e-mail address of your state representative at: ncleg.gov/Members/MemberList/H and your state senator at ncleg.gov/Members/MemberList/S Please help us get this important proposal out to them

16/03/2022

AND THANK YOU, REP. GRIER MARTIN, FOR YOUR SUPPORT! "I have two dogs and two rescued cats that my wife and I have adopted from shelters. I would love to see what we can do to bring awareness to shelter animals." - Rep. Grier Martin, 34th district, Wake County

03/03/2022

THANK YOU, REP. CALEB RUDOW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! "I've grown up always having dogs from the shelter in the house. I can't imagine ever getting a dog from a breeder when so many loving, sweet animals are killed every year in shelters. I'm adding this to my list of bills to consider and research in the upcoming session and will report back to you with any progress that I make." - Rep. Caleb Rudow, District 114

27/02/2022

AS OF TODAY, WE HAVE CONTACTED ALL 51 STATE SENATORS AND 50 STATE REPRESENTATIVES ... Within the next few days we will contact the remaining 75 state representatives. Is this stage of our promotion of our proposal working? YES! We have our first state legislature member who considers our proposal "GREAT!" This member now is looking to get some bi-partisan support for the proposal and is checking in to see if it can be submitted in time for consideration this year. We love sharing really good news!

21/02/2022

Tomorrow we start contacting state representatives and state senators about getting our bill passed. We will also be contacting over 50 animal shelters in North Carolina to enlist their aid in contacting the representative in their region.

17/02/2022

We need your support to get this bill in front of the NC legislature in June. Lend us your support here so we can pass it on. Thank you!

17/02/2022

GETTING READY TO APPROACH OUR NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATORS FOR THE JUNE 2022 SHORT SESSION ... There are 120 state representatives and 51 state senators. Our campaign to get our bill will start shortly. If you have additional suggestions about getting this moving forward, please let us know. All help is greatly appreciated by your furry friends and us.

02/02/2022

LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT GLORIA WHITEHEAD, office of Representative Carson Smith, District 16, brought us up to date on what we were facing in getting this proposition through. "We are closing out Long Session and will begin the Short Session June, 2022. During the Short Session, the only bills that are allowed to be presented new are issues related to the budget or local bills. The good news is that gives us a long window with which to work on proposed legislation." Gloria said that many of you e-mailed the office about the proposed legislation. So now we know where we are and what to expect. Thank you, Gloria

29/01/2022

ASK CARSON SMITH TO HELP US OUT ... He is the Representative for Pender and Columbus Counties in North Carolina. Write to him at [email protected] and tell him you support my proposition to name Shelter Pets as North Carolina's State Animal. It's a great way to raise awareness of animal adoption from shelters

28/01/2022

https://www.wect.com/2022/01/28/local-push-name-shelter-pets-official-north-carolina-state-animal

Michael Raab works with Monty’s Home, a non-profit rescue group that gets dogs out of local shelters and into Pender Correctional for basic training by inmates. He is spearheading the effort to make shelter pets the new state animal.

27/01/2022

WECT's Elly Cosgrove interviewed Mike Raab at the Pender County Animal Shelter about his proposed legislation to make Shelter Pets the State Animal to raise awareness for animal adoption. The interview will be on Friday's morning news 5 - 7 a.m.