There have been a lot of people, places and things put on stamps over the years, but now the post office is putting animals on a series of stamps to recognize animal shelters.
The Tellico Plains Post Office is using the stamps as an opportunity to help the Monroe County Animal Shelter raise awareness.

"It's not a fundraising thing because we're not allowed to do that," said Missy Mountain of the Tellico Plains Post Office. "But we can help raise awareness and we plan to do that on April 30 when we'll have the Monroe County Animal Shelter set up in the parking lot and meet people to let them know what is happening with animals and the shelter in the county."
A lot of people have already expressed interest in the stamp and Mountain said the post office is excited to do its part.

"We're trying to get more involved with the community," Mountain said. "In July we'll be doing the same thing for the Boy Scouts as they celebrate their 100th anniversary."
Cindy Klann of the Monroe County Animal Shelter said the organization is looking forward to taking part in the stamp's release.

"Last year we took in 6,000 animals," Klann said. "The shelter is something we encourage everyone to become aware of and help support. We're planning on taking some of our babies with us to the post office in April to let people know what we have.
"The support of the community keeps us going," Klann added, "and people can always donate to the shelter."

Mountain also pointed out people can now personalize stamps by going to the Web site stamps.com. "You can pretty much put anything you want on a stamp," she said. "A lot of people put their kids and grandkids on stamps."
While Mountain said the animal shelter stamps aren't being described as "limited," she said once they are gone, there won't be anymore printed.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 442-4575