Iggy makes cut for fundraising calendar
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A Brantford pet is a colourful addition to a national fundraising calendar.
Iggy, a panther chameleon owned by Allison Taylor, is one of 13 pets featured in the 2020 Pet Valu calendar. He is the featured pet for March.
His photo was chosen from nearly 45,000 submissions in a nationwide contest.
“It’s pretty cool,” Taylor said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“I was pretty excited when I got the news. Not everyone can say their pet has been featured in a calendar and they sure had a lot of photos to look at it.
“I learned about this on Facebook and just decided to go for it, and well, here we are.”
She said Iggy is a great pet.
“I like him because of his colours and he’s really sociable,” Taylor said. “If he’s in a good mood, he’ll have a lot of blues and greens with a little bit of red.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him dark – in a bad mood.”
In addition to spending time outside of his terrarium, Iggy loves hornworms and drinking from a warm bottle.
Panther chameleons are found in Madagascar and can grow to about 20 centimetres. They are remarkable for their ability to change colours.
Taylor has had Iggy for about two years.
Pet Valu, which has three stores in Brantford and one in Paris, has been printing a pet calendar for eight years. There is a lengthy process to determine which pets make the cut, said Alison Preiss, marketing manager, social media and campaigns for the retailer.
“It’s a highly competitive affair,” she said. “We get thousands of photos each year, go through them and narrow it down for a panel of our senior executive team to review.
“Getting into the calendar is really quite an accomplishment.”
She noted that this year’s calendar features some of the smaller pets owned by Canadians.
“As you can imagine, we’ve received a lot of photographs of cats and dogs over the years,” Preiss said. “This year we wanted to include smaller pets like Iggy.
“For the first time ever, this year’s calendar features a hedgehog on the cover.”
The calendars will be available by donation starting Nov. 1 in Pet Valu stores across Canada, including Paulmac’s Pets, Bosley’s by Pet Valu, Tisol and Total Pet.
All proceeds from the donations are used to support the Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides.
“The amount raised by the calendar each year varies but it’s usually around $200,000,” Preiss said. “Guide dog teams make a huge difference in the lives of a lot of Canadians and we’re pleased to be able to support this program.”
The Lions Foundation program trains guide dogs to help Canadians with a range of challenges, including those who are blind or visually impaired. Guide dogs are also trained to help the hearing impaired and deaf, autistic children, epilepsy as well as those who have physical or medical impairments.
Guide dogs also can help those who have diabetes with hypoglycemic unawareness and support for professional agencies helping those who have experienced trauma.
The program’s training facility is in Oakville and the program also has a breeding and training program in Breslau.
Meanwhile, Taylor said she’ll have to get used to being the owner of a celebrity chameleon.
“They announced the winners on social media so I think word’s getting out,” she said. “People are already taking about it.”
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