An animal shelter in Texas has jumped on the Area 51 hype but instead of encouraging people to steal extraterrestrials from the military base they want them to adopt their little fluffy ‘aliens’ instead.
Over three million people have now expressed their interest in the ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us’ Facebook event and while those keen for the mission have come up with a fairly detailed plan it’s still quite unlikely the raid will be a success.
In fact, the US Air Force themselves have warned against the plan, adding they always stand ready ‘to protect America and its assets.’
Jackson Barnes/FacebookSo rather than embarking on what’s essentially a doomed mission, the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center in Longview, Texas, has come up with an alternative way for people to get up close and personal with some non-human creatures.
The shelter shared photos of their adorable residents on Facebook, showing a whole array of animals dressed up in alien-like costumes and explaining they’re available for ‘the best price in the galaxy’.
They have a few lovely three-eyed kittens and some very good tin foil hat-wearing pups, or if you were hoping to take home something more scaly they’ve even advertised a bearded dragon.
Alongside the photos, the shelter wrote:
Do you want to storm Area 51 and find aliens? You can do that right here at the Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center (LACAC 51).
Area 51’s secret second location is 303 HG Mosley Pkwy in LONGVIEW TEXAS. We won’t resist, you can take them all.
Our aliens can go home with you for the best price in the galaxy. Adoption fee includes spay / neuter, microchip, and age appropriate vaccinations. No probing allowed.
Hundreds of people commented their praise on the post, to which the shelter responded saying they ‘work hard on [their] sillyness’.
Speaking to Mashable, Longview explained how they wanted to jump on the Area 51 bandwagon in an attempt to get animals adopted.
They said:
The costumes and ideas were very much a group effort. We regularly use pop culture [in marketing], from referencing famous people and movies to music and song references.
What did the ALIENS say when they ran out of room on the UFO? I'm all SPACED out….We are still SPACED out here at…
Posted by Longview Animal Care and Adoption Center on Tuesday, July 23, 2019
After sharing the post on Saturday (July 20), the shelter added a comment to say they’d done 20 adoptions in one day.
They continued:
For a small east Texas town that’s a pretty good number for a few hours. We are hoping it continues into next week.
Longview Animal Shelter’s photos came after Oklahoma City Animal Welfare shared similar images showing their adorable pups sporting tin foil hats, explaining they had animals ‘ready to protect you from the Area 51 aliens’.
Who could resist those big-eyed creatures?
Amazing!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.