Three baby bunnies “crash” the feline-focused event
While the kittens were the main attraction at Kitty Hall, this year’s event brought party crashers – in the form of three adorable baby bunnies. For the fifth straight year, Seattle City Hall became “Kitty Hall” for the day, renamed in a proclamation by Mayor Jenny Durkan. The Kitty Hall event highlighted the Seattle Animal Shelter’s adoptable cats and its foster program, with eight kittens on hand rotating through a tent for the public to meet and play with. This year, the shelter surprised eventgoers with a second tent and the opportunity to also cuddle bunnies.
“While Kitty Hall will always be first and foremost about the cats and kittens, we happened to have these bunnies in our care and thought this was a great opportunity to introduce the Kitty Hall audience to our critter program,” said Ann Graves, Seattle Animal Shelter executive director. “When people think of adoptable animals, dogs and cats are usually the animals that come to mind. We also want the community to be aware of the bunnies, guinea pigs, birds, mice, reptiles and other critters that we place in forever homes, too.”
During the Kitty Hall event, three kittens visited Mayor Durkan in her office before she arrived to tour Kitty Hall, read the Kitty Hall proclamation and great attendees. Shelter staff accepted seven adoption applications for kittens at the event, hosted a photo booth for eager kitten cuddlers and offered attendees information about pet licensing, shelter programs and services and other adoptable animals.
Attendees were also invited to vote in the Kitty Council election, which featured three adult cats campaigning to be the “Kitty Council president.” Some of the cats’ “platforms” included advocating for spaying and neutering, pet licenses for cats and “adopt, don’t shop.” Although votes are still coming in through the online election platform, with almost 57 percent of the votes so far, Samantha, a 15-year-old domestic shorthair mix, is emerging as the new Kitty Council president.
The Mayor’s Kitty Hall proclamation is available here: http://bit.ly/kittyhall2018proclamation
Photos of the event are available here: http://bit.ly/kittyhall2018photos
If you’re looking for your photo booth images, you can download them here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/seattleanimal/5kaU5i
The Seattle Animal Shelter, located at 2061 15th Ave. W., is open 1-6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday for adoptions and licensing. For more information, call 206-386-PETS (7387) or visit http://www.seattleanimalshelter.org.