The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) is hopping on to the Pokemon Go craze, too.
The animal shelter recently announced their newest adoption promotion "Gotta Adopt 'Em All!" — a play on the Pokemon tagline "Gotta catch 'em all!" — inspired by the new augmented-reality mobile phone game Pokemon Go. The shelter will be waiving adoption fees for all adult pets 1 year or older until Sunday. (A $10 microchip fee, a $10 pet license for city residents and all regular adoption procedures still apply.)
The idea came along from a fan who messaged the shelter on the BARCS' Facebook on Monday. They thought the shelter should capitalize on the growing popularity of the game, said BARCS staff member Bailey Deacon.
The shelter also has a Pokestop, Deacon said, where Pokemon Go players can obtain tools and catch Pokemon. BARCS staff members used this to their advantage by catching Pokemon around the shelter and screenshotting the catches. Later, they Photoshopped pictures of some of the cats and dogs up for adoption in place of the Pokemon for the promotion.
"We're very full around this time of year, so it's very difficult and expensive [for the shelter]," Deacon said. "We needed to do this promotion anyway ... and this kind of fell into our lap."