{"id":57043,"date":"2020-11-06T07:56:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=57043"},"modified":"2020-11-06T07:56:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T13:56:39","slug":"mutts-monsters-5k-benefits-western-plains-animal-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=57043","title":{"rendered":"Mutts & Monsters 5K benefits Western Plains Animal Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
BY CJ GIBSON <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mutts & Monsters 5K, a costume contest and walk\/run returned for its tenth year this Halloween. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 5K is hosted by Western Plains Animal Refuge (WPAR) as a fundraising event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brendon McCampbell, executive director and president of WPAR helped to organize and manage the event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
WPAR is a local non-profit organization that helps domestic and wild animals in the area. Some of the services they provide include pet adoption and the rehabilitation of wild animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis was started by a Fort Hays student in Leadership 310 years and years ago, Gretchen Tifo, and she started it as a fall fundraiser for our organization and it\u2019s been one of our biggest fundraisers over the years,\u201d McCampbell said. \u201cWe use the proceeds to help us in our mission of caring for domestic and wild animals in our community.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
30 people registered for the event beforehand, and there was the option to register at Municipal Park while the event was taking place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think this has been a pretty good turnout for an event in this time,\u201d McCampbell said. \u201cI was afraid that we might have lower numbers, but this is actually pretty good for one of our events.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a suggested donation of $25 per participant, registration alone could have raised more than $500 for WPAR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While COVID-19 made organizing this year\u2019s Mutts & Monsters 5K event more challenging, the fundraiser was still able to take place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis year was definitely a challenge with COVID, we had to go through some extra steps to get it approved and had to have some extra precautions, had to plan an alternate if our plan ended up getting shut down, just due to regulations at this time,\u201d McCampbell said. \u201cThankfully, we didn\u2019t have to do that and we were able to have our physical event today. It was a little bit more work than previous years just with everything going on but it wasn\u2019t too bad.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the prior week\u2019s snow, participants were graced with around 50\u00b0 F weather Saturday morning as they made their trek near Big Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pictured: Some notable costumed canines were: Reese, a doggo preparing for the cold weather with his scarf, Tucker, a golden retriever dressed as a ferocious alligator; and Finney, a monstrous beagle mix. Dodger, a german shepherd chow mix, and Whiskey, a border collie blue heeler mix, went as a zombie-skeleton duo, showcasing their owner\u2019s skills as a dog groomer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the main attraction of the 5K was the costumed pets, the costume content was between humans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The original prizes for the costume contest winners were destroyed by a pair of foster kittens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have two very evil kittens who, after ten years of doing this, they destroyed our prizes. Last night, I stopped by our office to pick up the prizes and the prizes were like 100% destroyed by these kittens\u2026.We\u2019ve never had that happen,\u201d McCampbell said <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A volunteer was able to pick up replacement prizes for the winners before the event\u2019s end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/IMG_1509.jpg?fit=790%2C604\")
<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n