Woman Takes Stunning Portraits of Dogs To Boost Adoption Chances: 'Soulful'

Each year in the U.S., 6.3 million companion animals will enter shelters. Among those are thousands of black cats and dogs, and sadly, black cats and dogs have a statistically more difficult time finding new homes.

Maggie Epling works at Pike County Animal Shelter in Pikeville, Kentucky, where she is spending the summer with her grandparents.

On Tuesday, she shared pictures she had taken of some of the black dogs at the shelter on Reddit.

With the caption: "I'm a volunteer animal shelter photographer. Black dogs are often the last to be adopted, so I try to make sure that every black dog in the shelter gets a good photograph," Epling shared six pictures which have since received more than 98,000 upvotes and prompted thousands of comments.

Epling told Newsweek: "I have always loved animals and have been photographing since I picked it up in middle school for yearbook staff. I had seen articles about photographers helping shelter animals find homes through good photography, so I called the shelter here in Pikeville and offered to come and photograph their dogs and cats."

Delighted by the offer, the director and staff at Pike County Animal Shelter took her up on it—even giving her room for a studio set up and allowing her to take the dogs out to play before a picture session.

"Beautiful and soulful portraits," wrote one Reddit user. "I hope your portraits get all these good ones adopted." Another commenter said: "My sweet rescue boy is a black dog and he was slated for euthanasia the day I rescued him. Even though he's the best dog ever he was overlooked by everyone."

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized each year.

"I had heard that black dogs and cats have a harder time getting adopted," explained Epling. "When I started volunteering, I noticed several of the dogs struggling to find homes were black. Part of it might be superstition, but I also think that black dogs simply struggle to stand out when potential adopters are walking past the kennels."

But combining the right lighting and her talent in photography, Epling is able to create images that she hopes will help the unwanted canines stand out. "My hope is that making sure the black dogs have good photos will encourage people to give them a chance," she said.

"Look at these beauties. I hope they all find their furever home," said one Redditor in the comments. Another user wrote: "I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to adopt these cuties. Look at them. So loving."

Thrilled by the viral reaction to her images, Epling said: "My biggest hope is that it will lead to adoptions—not only for dogs and cats in Pike County but everywhere. My philosophy at the beginning was that even if I only get one animal adopted, it will be worth it. To me, it's just one dog, but to the dog it's a matter of their whole world changing because of a single photo."