I met with a friend this past Friday night for dinner. During our conversation she mentioned that our local shelter, Marblehead Animal Shelter is over run with kitties. Her daughter volunteers there cleaning the cages and petting the kitties. This seems to be an issue with most if not all animal shelters across the country. Having said that there might be a technological solution that assists kittens, cats, dogs, and puppies in finding forever homes.
Photo: Idaho Humane Society
iPet Companion, a new technology created by Apriori Control in Boise, ID enables people to interact via the internet with kittens at Humane Shelters via robotic control. The first site was launched live at the Idaho Humane Society and most recently at the Oregon Humane Society. People from as far away as Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, England, New Zealand and Switzerland have interacted with kittens at these shelters.
The primary goal of iPet Companion is to entice people living near a local shelter to visit and adopt a kitten after having played with the kittens online. The Idaho and Oregon Humane Societies have realized increased traffic to their websites, as well as increased sponsorships, donations and adoptions. Real time interaction from users in the immediate community and worldwide have developed an emotional connection; including those who are allergic to animals. Apriori has received requests from Humane Societies in PA, WA, AZ, IL, OR, Canada and the City of Long Beach to name a few.
To play with kitties, click your way over to the Idaho Humane Society iPet Companion page or the Oregon Humane Society iPet Companion page and click the “Let’s Play” paw button. The page will prompt you for a download, and then you will be placed in a queue. Each person gets two minutes of kitty playtime. You can control various toys by clicking the “control” buttons or by hitting the corresponding number keys. You can also move the camera around.
My friend’s daughter wanted her to adopt another kitten, but they already have three. And my friend would not fancy being known as the “cat lady” of Marblehead. I am hoping the shelter might be able to install the iPet Companion. Perhaps your local shelter could benefit from it as well.
Contact: Scott Harris sharris@aprioricontrol.com
