In the final hours of what will likely go down as the most unpleasant election season in American history, one Juneau resident decided that the community needed a way to shake the stress and come together. It needed some paws-itivity.
“This has been a pretty stressful year, but we can all agree about kittens and puppies,” said Nancy DeCherney, the executive director of the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council.
That’s why she reached out to the Gastineau Humane Society and set up a pet-therapy day in the Juneau Arts and Culture Center on Election Day. The shelter supplied the pets, the JACC supplied the snacks, and the animals supplied a lot of whole lot of smiles.
If only for a moment, more than 200 Juneau residents took refuge from the constant barrage of election coverage and result predictions, distracted by dog kisses, wagging tails and lots of purring.
“I haven’t even looked at my phone all day to check the election results,” said Matt Musslewhite, director of the humane society.
“That was the point,” DeCherney added, laughing.
This year was the first time that the arts council and the humane society have partnered for a pet-therapy session during an election. DeCherny came up with the idea from the colleges her kids attend, which brought animals on campus during finals week to help relieve stress.
“I think that this is the first year this was really needed,” Musslewhite said, explaining why the shelter had never done anything like this in the past.
It will likely won’t be the last time the arts council and the humane society partner up. The event went over better than either organization had expected, according to Musslewhite and DeCherney.
So many people came to the JACC during their lunch breaks that event organizers lost count of the number of participants at about 200. “It was just too busy for us to count,” DeCherney said.
Hannah Lager was among those who showed up after the official tally was tossed. As DeCherney had hoped, Lager went to the JACC right after voting to take her mind off of the election.
“I’m just here for the cats,” she told the Empire. “I’m trying not to watch TV for a few hours, at least that’s the plan.”
For others, the event was more about making new furry friends than it was about escaping the political maelstrom. Ella Malaby, for instance, has more important things to worry about than politics. She is about to turn 7, and she had just befriended a Chihuahua named Roux of the same age.
“That was my favorite dog, but I also really liked the cats,” she said.
Along with Roux, the shelter brought three other dogs, and seven kittens from three different litters. Many of the cats, such as Chief Hopper, bear names from the popular TV show Stranger Things.
The humane society often has to get creative when naming animals, Musslewhite said. It names about 400 animals per year. While fictional characters from TV and movies are fair game for names, the shelter won’t be naming any animals after either presidential candidate, or any other politician for that matter. Political and controversial names don’t help animals get adopted. And that rule is probably more true this year than ever.
“We don’t want to drag these animals into the mess that we’ve created,” Musslewhite said.
Animal Control Officer Karen Wood, who was at the event Tuesday, said that a lot of people showed interest in adopting some of the animals from the shelter. She is hopeful that the humane society will get several adoption applications as a result of the event.
As for the arts council, DeCherney said that the main benefit of the pet-therapy session was unifying a city divided by political strife.
“We don’t always get something, monetarily, out of events,” she said. “In the end, this one brought the community together, and that’s the goal.”
• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
