When our social media coordinator posted a photo of BeeJay, also known as Mr. B, none of us could have imagined what would come next. Within a few hours of the photo being posted, it had been shared thousands of times. We started to receive thousands of calls, messages, and applications. The volume of love for Mr. B even crashed our website!
Mr. B’s sudden fame was an amazing opportunity for him and the rest of the animals in our shelter. His story was covered by outlets all over the country and the world, including CNN, Huffington Post, The Dodo, Good Morning America, and more, bringing attention to not just Mr. B but the lifesaving work we do here at Morris Animal Refuge. Mr. B received more than 3000 thousand applications, more than 20,000 iniquiries, and increased the foot traffic in our shelter tremendously. This attention has helped us to get even more animals adopted, including some of our long term residents like Pandora, a cat that had been with us for 228 days!
Mr. B helped us raise very necessary funds to support our lifesaving mission. The initial post that went viral has over $1,800 donations. Bonfire also helped us create a Mr. B CHONK shirt. In total, we sold 890 shirts and raised over $12,000 for the Refuge!
Since Mr. B’s picture went viral our small, but mighty, staff has been working tirelessly to place Mr. B in the best situation possible.
Mr. B has some underlying health and behavioral issues that need exceptional care and attention. Because of this, we placed Mr. B with one of our dedicated foster families who has experience working with cats that have behavioral and medical issues. This family hasn’t just dealt with these issues in other cats, they have embraced them.
After spending some time getting to know Mr. B, the foster family officially adopted him into their home. You can follow Mr. B’s adventures on Instagram, @ChonkyMrB!
We want to thank everyone again for the enthusiasm for Mr. B. While we wish we were able to respond to everyone individually, we are a very small staff and don’t have the bandwidth to do so. We will keep everyone updated throughout his journey on our social media accounts!
With all of this attention, we want to remind people that there are thousands of animals in shelters all across the country that need your help. Consider adopting one of these amazing animals. If you cannot adopt, foster. If you cannot foster, donate. If you cannot donate, volunteer. And if you cannot volunteer, advocate. While not all of these animals are as big a big as Mr. B, they still deserve as big of a space in your heart!