Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/chipper-dog-recycles/
More and more people are becoming aware of the dangers associated with ignoring the planet. We see the damage that has occurred in recent years and some that have been building up for decades or perhaps even centuries.
It seems that it isn’t only humans who are aware of the problem, we also have Chipper, an eight-year-old rescue dog.
Like his owner, Katie Pollak, Chipper does his part in helping the environment. When he sees any trash laying around near his home in Arizona, he stops to pick it up. In fact, you might say that he loves to recycle!
Pollak first met Chipper at a shelter in 2011 and fell in love with him. She told TODAY about her first encounter with the dog and how she knew immediately that he loved the environment. She said: “He started picking them up immediately, so I encouraged it and rewarded it. And he motivated me to do the same. I really started getting out and picking up more than I was before, so we created kind of a team.”
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In order to keep the world up-to-date on what Chipper is doing, she posts pictures on Instagram. Her account has more than 30,000 followers and is full of pictures of her on all sorts of outdoor adventures with her dog by her side.
It seems as if people around the world have fallen in love with what this dog is able to do. In talking with The Dodo, she spoke about how many people see them in real life and are absolutely thrilled.
Pollak calls her dog an inspiration. She takes him to group cleanups in Arizona and people instantly recognize Chipper. They collect garbage anywhere they go, regardless of whether it is straws, cans, or bottles. It would be difficult to count how many bags of trash they have picked up.
Sometimes, they also bring along Quinci, their other dog to meet friends for a large-scale cleanup. They are just a small part of the Wild Keepers, a group that got its start in 2016 and is trying to collect more than 1 million pounds of litter by 2023. They’ve already collected over 200,000!
Perhaps Pollak sums things up best to The Dodo when she says this about her dog: “He reminds me all the time to be my best self and do everything I can and he’s so much fun to do it with.”
Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog
