Fur real: Wannabe rabbit and cat cuddlers flood city with applications
Posted January 9, 2018 5:47 pm.
Last Updated January 11, 2018 6:55 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The City of Toronto has received a huge response to its call for volunteer rabbit and cat cuddlers — leaving it spoiled fur choice.
The Toronto Animal Services (TAS) had an old posting for volunteers to cuddle its rabbits and cats, and staff were taken by surprise when approximately 950 people submitted applications for the position.
“We’re always doing recruitment so it’s up on the website all the time,” said TAS program manager Mary Lou Leiher. “We didn’t really know what was happening … our strategic communications people did some digging around and found that it organically grew on social media.”
The shelter says cuddling helps socialize the animals and improves their physical and mental well-being. As a result, it also helps them get adopted.
“It’s important to decrease [the animal’s] stress level … and that’s what volunteers do for us,” said Leiher.
If you were hoping to sign up for the program, it’s no longer pawssible. The program now has enough volunteers.
