You Can Invite a Shelter Pet to Your Next Zoom Meeting

Working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a number of virtual meetings held via applications like Zoom. Participants who have been housebound may not bring a lot of energy to these conferences, but now there’s a way to ensure at least one of them will be wagging a tail. An animal shelter in Richmond, Virginia, is offering up dogs and cats as temporary co-workers.

According to The Dodo, Richmond Animal Care and Control is allowing businesses around the country to add a shelter pet to their virtual gatherings. Companies can email the shelter and arrange for a day and time to have a homeless animal participate. Companies can request a specific type of animal or temperament. Maybe they want a quiet dog—or maybe they want a cat sprinting across the frame. The shelter will do its best to accommodate and has even set up some makeshift “office” backgrounds to make their animals look like corporate movers and shakers.

“We were just thinking of something we could do that would make people smile,” Christie Chipps Peters, the director of Richmond Animal Care and Control, told The Dodo. “We are surrounded by animals every day, and we really do understand the love and comfort that comes from them.”

The shelter is hoping the effort will bring more attention to potential adoptees. If you’d like to book a pet, you can email the shelter at katiegantt@richmondgov.com.