Dog food maker Pedigree and Adopt a Pet are offering metaverse 'land' owners NFT pooches that can be introduced to players who might bring them out of virtual reality.
A dog food maker is bringing avatars of rescue dogs to the Decentraland metaverse where they can be fostered as virtual pets and, hopefully, taken home from their shelters in the real world.
Pedigree Fosterverse offers Decentraland "land" owners 3D NFT pooches based on real dogs looking for homes.
Beyond that, anyone in the blockchain-based metaverse can interact with the virtual pets to learn more about their real-life counterparts' background and adoption status.
"As the first brand to bring adoptable dogs to the metaverse, we are proud to be at the forefront of this new virtual reality, supporting our ambition to end pet homelessness," said Jean-Paul Jansen, vice president of marketing for Mars Petcare North America. "This program enables people to support deserving dogs in a new way through virtual fostering."
While they are NFTs, like everything in Decentraland, Fosterverse avatars are not tradable or salable as NFTs, and are licensed for personal use only.
The Fosterverse works with Adopt a Pet, an online adoption portal that connects people with shelter and adoptable animals by breed and location, including all U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
Dogs ranging from akitas to Yorkshire terriers can be found on the Fosterverse. Through Adopt a Pet, it expands to cats and a wide variety of other adoptable animals, including horses, birds, reptiles and amphibians, rabbits, small pets (like guinea pigs), farm-type animals (such as pigs and goats), and even fish.
While Pedigree Fosterverse is focused on dogs — the company notes that since the pandemic, only 53% of shelter dogs are adopted — it is a division of Mars, which owns nine pet food brands like Sheba, Iams and Whiskas, as well as a veterinary health provider network. So, if the Fosterverse catches on, it seems likely it will expand beyond dogs, and likely even cats.
The company is also matching $100,000 in donations to its Pedigree Foundation, focused on ending pet homelessness.
