The connection that owners have with their cats or dogs is on full display in the 2024 edition of the Thunder Bay and District Humane Society calendar.
The theme for this year’s calendar, which went on sale last week, is ‘Who Rescued Who?’ and focuses on how animals have improved an adopter’s mental health.
“It’s been a challenging year for a lot of people so we thought that theme would be a good one to showcase,” humane society executive director Shawna Beaulieu said.
“I think the stories that are in the calendar this year are all really inspiring and do a great job of showcasing how important the human and animal bond is.”
The calendars have been done at the humane society for many years, but the overall theme for it changed last year as they now get stories that are submitted from past adopters about their animals.
“There were a lot of our shelter animals in the calendar before, but oftentimes there would be a partnership with someone in the community,” Beaulieu said. “For example, we’ve had firefighters with the dogs and cats at the shelter for the photos we’d use.”
The funds raised from the calendar will go towards the cost for animals that are in the shelter and are used for things such as urgent medical care, vaccinations, spay and neuter surgery, food and shelter.
“We have about 1,300 animals a year accessing our care through the shelter and we’ve seen a big increase in how many animals we have come in over the last year,” Beaulieu said.
Calendars can be purchased for $10 on the humane society website or in person at 1535 Rosslyn Road from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.