On November 2nd, North Little Rock at Burns Park will host one of approximately 40 Puppy Up! Walks to take place this year across the country. The event is part of a national effort organized by Memphis based 2 Million Dogs, a 501 C (3) organization that relies on the generosity of individuals and corporations to help in its mission to eradicate both human and canine cancer through investing in comparative oncology studies.
“We are thrilled to be part of this exciting and challenging effort to raise awareness of the similarities between canine and human cancers and money for research that will help us win the fight against not only canine cancer, but human cancer as well,” said Fran Hickman, Puppy Up! Program Sponsor for 2 Million Dogs and organizer of the third annual Puppy Up! Walk in North Little Rock.
“Between now and November 2nd we will recruit as many Central Arkansas-area dog-owners to bring their pets to Burns Park and walk to help raise money for research in comparative oncology,” she added. Registration and Silent Auction begins at 11:00 a.m. and the Walk will start at 1:00 p.m.
The monies raised through the November 2nd walk and subsequent events, will be used to partner with leading cancer research institutions to help further their work in the leading-edge field of comparative oncology.
Just like humans, dogs naturally develop cancer. The work of clinical veterinary oncologists in using naturally occurring cancers in animals to better understand and treat cancer in humans is called comparative oncology. There are several factors that make comparative oncology important in the fight against human cancer:
- Pets are exposed to many of the same environmental risks as people
- The cancer cells are biologically comparable
- There is a large population of cats and dogs with pre-existing cases of cancer
- Cancer occurs in pets within years compared to decades in humans.
2 Million Dogs grew from a cross-country walk by Luke Robinson of Austin, TX and his two dogs Hudson and Murphy. They walked from Austin to Boston to fulfill the promise Luke made to his dog Malcolm, a Great Pyrenees who died from cancer. Luke later formed 2 Million Dogs with the belief that if two dogs can walk 2000 miles to raise awareness about canine cancer surely two million dogs can walk 2 miles.
