Pedigree Unleashes Virtual Fostering in Decentraland to Find Real Dogs Homes

Pet food maker Pedigree is bringing furry friends to the metaverse in an effort to end real-world pet homelessness, the company said Wednesday.

While most metaverse experiences exist entirely in digital spaces, whether it be November’s Metaverse Music Festival or March’s Metaverse Fashion Week, Pedigree’s activation is focused on creating long-term impact outside of the metaverse.

The FOSTERVERSE activation will allow users to foster virtual dogs on the metaverse platform Decentraland. In order to participate, owners of virtual land in Decentraland can choose any available dog from pet adoption site Adopt a Pet and upload avatars based on their photos to the platform.

Those who don’t own land in Decentraland can still interact with the virtual pets, including chatting with other users to learn more about the real-world dogs, donating to the Pedigree Foundation to help other pets in need or adopting their real-world counterparts.

According to a report from Shelter Animals Count, just over half of dogs in shelters are finding new homes these days. By giving users an opportunity to foster pets in a virtual space, the hope is that they might be more inclined to adopt a dog in real life.

Pedigree will also match up to $100,000 in donations to support the Pedigree Foundation, focusing on helping fund foster programs for shelters around the country.

"Both the Pedigree brand and Pedigree Foundation have long histories of supporting animal shelters and promoting dog adoption, and this program enables people to support deserving dogs in a new way through virtual fostering,” said Jean-Paul Jansen, vice president of marketing for Mars Petcare North America, in a press release.

Beyond fostering a virtual dog, users can also flex FOSTERVERSE wearables on their avatars.

Pedigree isn’t alone in its efforts to use Web3 to raise awareness about pet homelessness. In April, blockchain firm Pawtocol created a crypto-backed pet fund to support shelter animals in being adopted.