About This Stamp
With this pane of 10 stamps, the U.S. Postal Service hopes to raise awareness of the need to adopt shelter pets.
Although estimates vary, most sources agree that animal shelters take in at least several million dogs and cats a year in the United States. Sadly, for lack of space and resources, about half of the pets that end up in animal shelters are euthanized.
Adoption could save more shelter pets from this fate. Many people don’t make this choice, however, because they believe abandoned animals might have behavioral problems. In fact, most shelter pets are well-behaved victims of circumstances: an owner not prepared for the responsibilities of caring for a pet, or a family that has to relocate. In many cases, families reluctantly give up their pet as a result of a divorce, a lost job, or a home foreclosure.
Some animal lovers may not consider adopting a dog because they prefer to buy a purebred, not realizing that purebreds make up an estimated 25 percent of the dogs in animal shelters. In fact, shelters house just about any kind of dog—or cat—that you might want. Even puppies and kittens are often available for adoption.
There are numerous reasons to adopt a shelter pet. One is cost; adoption fees (which often pay for vaccinations and spaying or neutering) can run as low as $50 for a dog and less for a cat. Another is convenience; many dogs up for adoption have already been housebroken and no longer need the constant supervision that a puppy requires. Yet another reason is potential health benefits; numerous studies show that pet owners have lower blood pressure than non-owners.
But the best reason of all is the satisfaction of knowing you’ve saved a precious life.
No one, of course, should adopt without being aware of the financial and moral responsibilities of pet ownership. But if you are prepared for those responsibilities, adoption is a wonderful way of bringing a pet into your life.
To slightly paraphrase the lines of an oft-quoted poem, “Saving just one pet won’t change the world, but it surely will change the world for that one pet.”
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Photographer
Sally Andersen-Bruce
Sally Andersen-Bruce has been the president and sole proprietor of her photography business for more than 30 years. Based in Connecticut, her assignments have taken her all over the world for clients such as IBM, Polaroid, AT&T, Pepsi, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal.
Her portfolio includes photographic content for corporations, institutions, and publications, focusing on executives, products, food, architecture, financial reports, and websites.
In addition to her commercial work, she has collaborated with several museums, including the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico; the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont; and the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York.
Andersen-Bruce’s photographs have appeared on numerous U.S. postage stamps, among them Classic American Dolls (1997), Neuter and Spay (2002), Nutcrackers (2008), Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet (2010), Weather Vanes (2012), Gingerbread Houses (2013), and Diwali, first issued in 2016. Most recently, her photograph appeared on the 2025 Lunar New Year • Year of the Snake stamp.