Dogtown Group and Shar Pei Rescuers First Winners in New Animal Rescue Site and Petfinder.com $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge

Seattle, WA, May 02, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Supporters of Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah, best known as the “Dogtown” people (National Geographic Channel), and Operation Scarlet, an Shar Pei rescue group based in Lancaster, PA, turned out enough online voting to secure $1,000 grants in The Animal Rescue Site’s current $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge. These groups also remain in the running for the larger $20,000 Grand Prize to be awarded in July as well as number of other grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

Before the challenge wraps up on July 26, 2009, more than 60 grants for a total of $100,000 will be awarded to eligible Petfinder.com members.

Members of the public can vote for their favorite shelters once a day. As of April 30, the top ten shelters in the Challenge in alphabetical order were: Best Friends Animal Society, Kanab, UT; Days End Farm Horse Rescue; Lisbon, MD; Humane Society of Huron Valley, Ann Arbor, MI; Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation, Inc., Pittsville, WI; Oasis Sanctuary, Benson, AZ; Operation Scarlet Inc, Lancaster, PA; Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary, Ovando, MT; SBU Cat Network Stony Brook, NY; Seminole County Animal Services, Sanford, FL; and Wynne Friends of Animals, Wynne, AR.

“Because the voting lasts for fifteen weeks on our site, there is plenty of time left for new shelters to leap into the lead or surprises to happen like the 2008 last minute win by South Wood County shelter in Wisconsin,” said Rosemary Jones, a spokesperson for The Animal Rescue Site. “We’ve also increased the number of grants, so there are more opportunities for all types of Petfinder.com shelters and rescue organizations to receive anywhere from $1,000 weekly winner (for the most votes cast that week) to regional awards to the $20,000 grand prize.”

More on $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge

In 2008, more than three million excited votes were cast for Petfinder.com shelters and rescue organizations participating in The Animal Rescue Site’s $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge. More than 55 grants totaling $100,000 were given to all types of organizations, large and small, rural and urban, and breed specific and general rescue. The 2008 Grand Prize - a $25,000 grant to help animals - went to the South Wood County Humane Society, of Wisconsin Rapids, WI. This community shelter got out the vote by plastering local businesses with flyers, going into their local schools to talk about the need to care for pets and the joys of adoption, approaching their local media to write about the Shelter+ Challenge, and spreading the word through family and friends via the Internet.

“Amazing. Unbelievable. Heartwarming. I was stopped literally hundreds of times by people excited to tell me they were voting, and who they had roped into voting with them,” Phil Hartley, the director of the South Wood County Humane Society, wrote in a local newspaper essay about community involvement after receiving their grant last year.

Visitors to The Animal Rescue Site were so enthusiastic about the idea of deciding where the money should be granted that a second Challenge was immediately announced for Spring 2009 by Tim Kunin, CEO of The Animal Rescue Site. In addition to the funds granted through the Challenge, The Animal Rescue Site and GreaterGood.org also support shelters and rescue organizations around the world through a variety of programs including the site’s Click to Give program.

How the Challenge Works

Visitors to www.theanimalrescuesite.com can choose from a list of select animal rescue and welfare organizations created by Petfinder.com. Visitors can cast one vote daily to help pick the most-deserving ones to receive Challenge grants. Voters are limited to one (1) vote per person per day and votes will be accepted from now until Midnight (PST) on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

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