Due to the recent natural disasters around the world, Blizzard has decided to release this year’s new charity pet early. Ahead of BlizzCon 2017 which takes place later this year.

Blizzard has released a blog post explaining how the system works. For every Shadow Fox pet “adopted between now and December 2017”, 100% of the $10 adoption fee will be equally split between these two charities: American Red Cross Disaster Relief and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The blog post explains that the American Red Cross is dedicated to helping those affected by disasters in the United States. The money going to the IFRC will be helping them respond to disasters as the money will be going directly to their Disaster Relief Emergency Fund.

The pet in question is a Shadow Fox which looks similar to the African Fennec Fox. The Shadow Fox also has a colour-changing coat which can be either light tan or a purple colour. In addition to this, the new pet can also take part in the World of Warcraft Pet Battles. Purchasing this pet will also unlock it for all WoW characters on that account. So for pet collectors, it’s certainly worth the purchase.

Blizzard has held a variety of charity events and sales over the years. Last year, they raised $2.5 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation through the sale of a World of Warcraft pet. In previous years they’ve also sold other pets and heroes in similar events where all of the money is given to different charities. This is the first one, however, to go on sale early. In addition to this, Blizzard also holds charity events with other games such as Hearthstone.

What do you think about this new charity drive from Blizzard? Will you be picking up this new Shadow Fox pet?