Perry High School students paint shelter pets to promote adoption

Students created colorful portraits of cats and dogs available through Friends of Perry Animal Shelter, which reported three recent adoptions.

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Finding a forever home can change the life of a shelter animal. Now, Perry High School students are putting their creativity to work to help local animals get adopted. 

Students at Perry High School are putting their creativity to work for a good cause. Through a partnership with a local animal shelter, they’re using their artwork to help promote pet adoption and find loving homes for animals ahead of the holiday season. 

Perry High School art teacher Brianna Walker says the project gave students a chance to take a traditional art assignment and turn it into a way to help animals in their community. 

“We normally do a regular just inspired watercolor project, and we just pick animals,” Walker said. “But I was like, why don’t we reach out to a local animal shelter here and have these animals and create portraits, and they were rainbow and fun colors. And so, my students were able to learn not only about watercolor, but they were able to really capture the personality of these cats and dogs. They were asking about these animals, so it really kind of made this project a lot bigger than just making a watercolor portrait.”

Friends of Perry Animal Shelter Manager Heather Manning says the project is already making an impact, with several animals finding homes and more people showing interest in adoption. 

“We had three adoptions that day, and then we’ve had people still reaching out about the portraits and asking about animals that they saw that day, and I think it went really well,” Manning said.

As the holidays approach, shelter officials are encouraging people to consider adoption. They say there are also other ways to help, including donating supplies, money or volunteering time. 

“I think that the holidays are a great time to get a new pet, so they’re not sitting in the shelter when everybody else is having a good time with their families,” Manning said. “But also, those seasons are a great time for giving, and if you can’t adopt a pet, you can donate your time, donate supplies, money. We will take anything.”

Walker says she hopes the project inspires students to stay involved in their community and find other ways to give back. 

“This community is large and that there’s something for everybody here,” Walker said. “We don’t only do just this project in our community. We have a lot of different ways that we are able to reach others. And I already had a student come up and ask me today. He was like, ‘Do you think the animal shelter is open tomorrow? I’d love to go hang out with the cats and see them again.’ And so, they’re starting to learn about how to become volunteers and to be able to give back, and that was my dream.”

There are still opportunities to adopt. The project gives Perry High School students a chance to showcase their talents while helping animals find their forever families.    

The Friends of Perry Animal Shelter is located at 204 Kellwood Drive in Perry.