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Skip Area 51: Raid this animal shelter for tin-foil hat wearing dogs

An Oklahoma shelter had an out-of-this-world idea to help find new Earth homes for orphan pets.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
Yuna animal shelter in Moscow Region, Russia

Pick up a cute pup from an animal shelter.

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The Facebook group urging people to storm Area 51 and "see them aliens" has drawn lots of attention. (Bud Light is even offering the aliens free beer.)

But messing with the US Air Force's super-secret military facility could get you killed. So here's a friendlier option: An Oklahoma City animal shelter is encouraging Americans to "come storm our shelter" instead.

In a Facebook post put up Friday, OKC Animal Welfare in Oklahoma City wrote, "We have great animals ready to protect you from the Area 51 aliens," adding, "adoption isn't that far out of this world!"

But what really sells the shelter's post is that it includes photos of multiple adoptable dogs (and one cat) wearing the famed tin-foil hats associated with conspiracy theorists. The shelter has also decorated the animal photos with sparkling spacey sprinkles, and little cartoony aliens.

Come storm our shelter... We have great animals ready to protect you from the Area 51 aliens. Adoption isn’t that far out of this world! #stormtheshelter

Posted by OKC Animal Welfare on Friday, July 19, 2019

The photos include 3-year-old Piper, a snuggly pointer and boxer mix who looks quite proud of her spacey tin-foil antenna; 3-month-old Sam, a sad-looking lab mix; Lady, a 3-year-old lab and shepherd mix who makes her alien headwear look dignified; and an unnamed striped kitten who wore his tin-foil as a collar instead of an antenna hat.

"We are super-excited about the response and the exposure it has given our shelter pets!" a spokesperson told me. "This was an idea from our adoption coordinator and we never expected it to go so viral. The summer months are so tough for shelters all over the country and we are so happy to bring attention to this during this busy time."

 Facebook users found the idea, like outer space itself, to be totally far out.

"Wonderful & creative pictures!" wrote Angela Merriman. "You all do a fantastic job in terrible circumstances."

And Adrian Stiegler wrote, "I wept a little inside seeing this post. What a beautiful suggestion. Dogs > Area 51 any day."

Update, 2:30 p.m. PT July 20: Added comments from shelter.

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