[Editor’s Note: Ross Flora is a Nashville based singer and musician by way of Virginia. In 2022, he released his debut single “Cannonball” and followed it up with his first EP Shoulders of Giants. In 2023 Ross released a pair of songs, entitled Part of Me, that were recorded at world renowned Blackbird Studios. He’s also collaborated with songwriter Jason Nix for a stripped-back version of “As The Crow Flies” and wrote Lainey Wilson’s recent ACM Song of the Year, “Things A Man Oughta Know.” Ross is currently writing with Buck Johnson (Aerosmith, Hollywood Vampires) for a 5-song EP.
In honor of his latest pet-loving themed single “Home Bound” and today (April 30) being Adopt A Shelter Pet Day, Flora penned an exclusive essay for us about importance of adopting shelter pets.]
My name is Ross Flora, I’m a singer/ songwriter/ guitarist in Nashville TN and recently released a song called “Home Bound” written about my dachshund Sadie Mae. With the release, my team and I used the opportunity to bring awareness to the millions of shelter animals looking and waiting for homes around the country. “Adopt a Shelter Pet Day” is April 30th, so the timing seemed perfect to write this essay diving into the subject.
According to the ASPCA, approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year, of which approximately 4.1 million are adopted. While the numbers of overall admitted shelter animals have decreased over the last 15 years, there is still a large disparity in adoption rate leaving many animals without homes and shelters beyond capacity.
In my lifetime I’ve been lucky to have many pets and have been surrounded by their unconditional love and companionship. Growing up on a farm in Virginia, my sister and I always had dogs and cats running around, and begged our parents to stop and adopt another every time we drove by the shelter. My cousin Laura now runs an “overflow” shelter for cats on the farm, using some of our barns as habitats, as well as taking care of extra shelters around our hometown.
My family’s trade for as many generations back as I can find has been to farm, so caring for animals is rooted deep in us. When I was a kid my dad would get my sister and I a month old orphaned Holstein calf every spring that was our responsibility to bottle feed and tend to. While it wasn’t a traditional pet, we kept them in a special pen in the backyard and treated them like our house pets until they were big enough to join the herd. Having that responsibility every year in my young life instilled a respect and understanding for animals as much as our dogs and cats did, and I couldn’t not mention them in the history of my love for animals.
As I mentioned before, my recently released song “Home Bound” is one I wrote about coming home to my weiner dog Sadie Mae. Sadie was the runt of her litter, had been passed over for adoption and was days away from being brought to a shelter when my girlfriend found her years ago. While I do believe the universe works in ways that would have led her to us even if she had been given to a shelter, it’s hard to imagine the very real scenario that such a wonderful animal with so much love to give could be without a home. While every animal is special in their own way, and Sadie is definitely that, there are pets with just as much love and personality to give as her in shelters all over the country.
One of my favorite movies growing up was “Homeward Bound”, where two dogs and a cat are separated from their family and have to make a long journey home to them, which was my main inspiration for “Home Bound”. When writing the song I found an alternate meaning in the notion that it’s the shelter pet who is dreaming of home “just around the bend”, waiting for their family to adopt them.
With national “Adopt a Shelter Pet Day” coming up, I hope the reader will visit a shelter facility and consider providing a home and family for one of the millions of loving pets in need around the country.
My song “Home Bound” is available on all streaming and downloading platforms, as well as all social media under RossFloraMusic and Ross-Flora.com.
Ross Flora
Contributor
Ross Flora is a Nashville based singer and musician by way of Virginia.
