Local pet calendars for sale, proceeds benefit Caledon Animal Services

Calendar features pets from all across Caledon

By Zachary Roman

Animal lovers and fans of physical calendars might want to consider buying the first ever edition of the Town of Caledon Animal Services Calendar for 2023.

It's on sale now at Caledon's Town Hall, Animal Shelter, Libraries, Recreation Centers and select local pet stores and veterinary clinics for $20, with all proceeds going to the Town of Caledon's Animal Services Donation Fund.

The fund supports veterinary care and specialized surgeries, the purchase of medications, purchase of items for animal enrichment and care, spaying and neutering adoption animals, specialized animal diets and care, promoting awareness through education and outreach programs, and making improvements to Caledon's shelter facility.

Earlier this year, Caledon residents were asked to submit pictures of their pet to the Town along with the pet's name and community it lives in. These pictures were used to make the calendar, which, in addition to being a valuable fundraising tool, also serves as a tool for creating awareness of animal services, promoting animal health and safety, and promoting responsible pet ownership.

In a media release, Mayor Annette Groves said it's great to see Caledon residents' pets featured in a calendar. “A big thank you to our Animal Services Team for their commitment to keeping pets safe, healthy and for championing responsible pet ownership. Thank you to all the Caledon residents that submitted photos of their pets,” said Groves.

Caledon's Town Clerk and Director of Corporate Services Laura Hall said the calendar will help support Caledon's animal shelter and programs immensely. She thanked those who worked on the calendar, and said it's a “pawfect” gift for the holidays.

Brenda Dermott, Caledon's Supervisor of Animal Services, said she hopes the calendar filled with local pets will be enjoyed by Caledon residents. Stephanie Rose is part of Caledon's Animal Services team and said in an interview the team is always looking for new ways to engage with the community and spread awareness about the Caledon animal shelter's programs and services.

“We thought the creation of a Calendar that would feature local pets would be a really fun and exciting way to make that happen,” said Rose. “We're hoping if it goes well to make it into an annual project.”

Dermott and Rose said it was really hard to narrow all the submissions to the calendar to 13 finalists, as there were so many great pet pictures sent in. Rose said she thinks every animal services staff member had a different favourite submission, which didn't make the process any easier. She noted the team tried to include a variety of different kinds of pets which did help them to narrow it down a bit.

“We had a lot of interest with submissions so we're hoping we'll get a lot of interest with sales as well,” said Rose.

In total, 750 calendars have been made and Dermott and Rose hope to sell out of them by late January.