Highlighting the plight of abandoned pets - UK

Dog Lover Will Live in Animal Shelter for 35 Days to Highlight the Plight of Abandoned Pets 

Sean Le Vegan, a dog lover from Manchester, England, will spend over a month in an animal shelter enclosure  to raise awareness about the plight of stray dogs and encourage people to adopt rather than buy canine pets.

Photo: Paul Heyes

Sean, a 35-year-old web-designer and volunteer at the Manchester and Cheshire Dogs’ Home, believes spending 35 days and nights in a cage is a good way to attract attention to the hideous plight of homeless dogs. It’s also a great way to raise some much-needed funds for the dog shelter, as he plans to broadcast his challenge on the internet with webcams and charge £5 ($7.50) per subscription. People will be able to watch a human living a dog’s life and Le Vagan plans to offer them a realistic experience. 35 days is the average stay for a dog at the Manchester-based animal shelter. Just like the canines brought here, Sean won’t eat anything for the first four days and will have to make do with just water and a blanket. After that he will be feasting on vegetarian dog food throughout the whole event. He will only be allowed one hour of freedom per day, to use the toilet and freshen up. To make his experience even more authentic, he even had a chip implanted in his shoulder which  is hooked up to the dog-care database.

“It’s going to be really tough, but I didn’t want to dress up in a pickle suit or run 26 miles or any of the usual things. I want to really show people what stray dogs go through, and experience it for myself,” Sean told Manchester Evening News. “People thought I was absolutely crazy when I first came up with it – particularly the microchip. The toilet will obviously be an issue so I’ve cut caffeine, salt and sugar out of my diet to sustain my water levels. I really want to do this properly.” The young activist has chosen to begin his cage living experiment on October 5th, when the weather starts to get cold, to show what the animals have to endure.

Photo: Paul Heyes

Celebrities, dog trainers and groomers will be dropping by the Manchester and Cheshire Dogs’ Home during Sean Le Vegan’s stay there, to possibly raise the profile of the event even more. To follow Sean’s progress, check out his website, Kennel 35 and follow him on Twitter.

Sean isn’t the first person to spend time in a cage in order to raise awareness to the plight of animals. In 2011 Alexander Pylyshenko, a private zoo owner from Ukraine, spent five weeks caged with full grown lions.

By Spooky on July 15th, 2013 Category: News
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