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Cat cafe a big success at Lake Country Art Gallery

The Okanagan Humane Society combined art and kitten adoption
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A Cat Cafe adoption and education event was hosted by the Okanagan Humane Society with support from the Lake Country Art Gallery. Photo: Mackenzie Britton/Capital News

Combining cats and art was a big success at the Lake Country Art Gallery this weekend.

The Okanagan Humane Society (OHS) hosted a “cat cafe” at the art gallery this past weekend, welcoming cat lovers, potential adopters and art fans to meet and enjoy the company of a cats looking for a forever home.

Romany Runnalls, president of the Okanagan Humane Society, said it’s an amazing draw when you get art and animals together.

“We’ve had amazing crowds, people want to adopt, they don’t want to buy animals that are $200 (online) and unfixed. They want to rescue an animal,” said Runnalls.

“Here, people can support the art gallery and the Humane Society by purchasing some merchandise, or making a donation or making an adoption.”

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More than 10 cats were rotated in and out of the pop-up cat cafe on Saturday, with a few making connections and finding their forever homes.

The collaborative effort by the OHS and the art gallery wanted to showcase local artists’ talents, but Lake Country Art Gallery curator Wanda Lock said the gallery can be used for much than just art.

“The role of a public art gallery is not to just hang artwork on walls, but also to talk about current issues, politics and social issues, and one of our social issue groups that we like to work with is the Okanagan Humane Society,” said Lock.

“It seemed like a natural fit to bring in the Humane Society for an event like this and branch out and repurpose the gallery for others.”

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The OHS plans to continue their work to ensure pets are prepared for adoption with reduced breeding, vaccinations, identification tattoos, as well as proper education for families.

Runnalls said that the success of the first “cat cafe” will hopefully lead to similar events during the year.

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