Virtual Adoption: Q&A with Michael Ayalon of AnimalRoulette.com

By Wendy Toth | July 12, 2010 2:31 PM

Adopting a pet is an amazing experience, but it can be a tad bit stressful. So forget about cage after cage of clamoring animals and picture being in a room - just you, your possible new pet and one of his caretakers, for as long as you like - without leaving home. A door-to-door adoption service? Almost.

Michael Ayalon, of Petwebdesigner.com, is making pet adoption everything it should be: peaceful, personal and virtual, with his new website, AnimalRoulette.com.

The technology will be unveiled in a live, virtual pet adoption even on the site on July 17 from 1PM to 4PM EST in partnership with Kent Animal Shelter of Calverton, New York.

We asked Michael Ayalon to dish on his adoption revolution.

Q: How does AnimalRoulette.com work?

A: You simply set up your web cam and visit AnimalRoulette.com, where you're paired with other visitors - either shelter animals and their caretakers or other pet lovers - at random (hence the "roulette" part), for a live video chat. If you want to check out even more available pets, you simply move to another chat room.

Q: So this is a free service?

A: Yes! All a pet lover or a shelter will need is a web cam and internet access.

Q: What gave you the idea?

A: I went to a shelter near my home with my wife and two young kids (Jacob, 5 and Rachel, 3) to adopt a new dog, but the shelter was so crowded and hectic that we didn't get a good feel for any of the dog's personalities. We left empty-handed.

When I got home, I read that between 8,000 and 11,000 animals are euthanized every day in the U.S. and I knew I had to do something. So I did a lot of research on the person-to-person video chat site, chatroulette.com. The technology is great but I didn't think the application was quite right.

Q: "Chatting" with animals and their caretaker in a private setting made more sense to you?

A: This way people can really see how a dog or cat would fit in to their family. The pet can be put on camera in a private room and the worker is there to answer questions about his personality, how he gets along with adults, kids, other pets, or anything. Plus, it cuts out driving time and increases the amount of people "meeting" each pet.

Q: What's your goal for this site?

A: My goal is to double number of adoptions for shelters that use it in the first year. Any shelter going forward can just hop on to the site and show off their available pets, even shelters that don't have websites of their own.

Q: How many pets will partake in the adoption even on the 17th?

A: We'll have about 40 pets in the event, but if someone is interested in an animal that's not on camera, we can make a virtual chat appointment for later in the week.

Q: Do you think you'll find your family's dream dog?

A: Yes! I used to have a rescued Pitt Bull, SoCo, and she was just the most wonderful companion. Ordinarily you might not take a chance on a Pitt, but she taught me that even dogs with a bad rep could be amazing. So she's my inspiration to find a great new dog for my family, and great new owners for all the overlooked pets out there.

Opening photo via.

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