This Animal Shelter Wants You to Storm It Instead of Area 51

One animal shelter is hoping people will be more interested in finding pets instead of aliens.

In light of the recent Facebook page inviting people to storm Area 51 in search of extraterrestrials, the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare shelter invited fur-loving friends to find a best friend.

"Adoption isn't that far out of this world!" the shelter wrote on its Facebook page Friday.

The shelter shared photos of cute dogs in tin-foil hats, to protect against the aliens, of course. 

Area 51 is the top-secret Air Force facility long associated in the public mind with extra-terrestrials and UFOs. It lies deep in the desert 150 miles from Las Vegas. It's lined with signs warning the curious to keep out.  

Last month, a college student launched a Facebook page he called “Storm Area 51.”

“Let's see them aliens,” it says. “They can't stop all of us.” Though 3 million people signed up, the creator said it was all a joke.

More than 6 million companion animals enter shelters in the U.S. every year, according to data released by the ASPCA in 2022. About 920,000 shelter animals are put down, and about 4.1 million are adopted, the ASPCA said.

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