City of San Antonio (Texas) Animal Care Services Tops South Central Division after First Two Months of 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge

NEW YORK—The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced that City of San Antonio Animal Care Services in San Antonio, Texas has pulled into the lead after the second month of the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge.  The city shelter is now first in the nation and in the South Central Division in this national competition in which 50 animal shelters from across the country are working to increase adoptions in order to win a piece of the more than $500,000 in ASPCA prize grants, including a grand prize of $100,000,In August and September, the shelter adopted or reunited 2,441 pets, an increase of 783 lives saved over the same period last year.

"When I congratulated the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services for being in second place at the end of the first month, they told me that second simply wasn't good enough for the animals in their city and that they intended to make it to number one,"  said Bert Troughton, vice president of community outreach for the ASPCA. "They're working really hard and have saved a remarkable 2,441 pets in just 60 days."

In addition to City of San Antonio Animal Care Services, contestants in the South Central Division for the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge are:

• Arizona Animal Welfare League & SPCA in Phoenix, Ariz.
• HALO Animal Rescue in Phoenix, Ariz.
• Humane Society of Southern Arizona in Tucson, Ariz.
• Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society in Santa Fe, N.M.
• Tulsa Animal Welfare in Tulsa, Okla.
• Beaumont Animal Services in Beaumont, Texas
• Denton Animal Shelter Foundation in Denton, Texas
• BARC Animal Shelter & Adoptions in Houston, Texas

The contestants are working to save more cats and dogs during the months of August, September and October 2012 than they did during the same period in 2011. The ASPCA and Rachael Ray will award a $100,000 grand prize to the shelter contestant that achieves the greatest increase in lives saved during this three-month period. A second place prize of $25,000 will be awarded to the shelter with the second greatest increase in lives saved, and the contestant that does the best job of engaging its community members in helping to save more animals will win $25,000. Those organizations that do the best in their divisions will be eligible for between $5,000 and $40,000 in additional grants.

All her life, Rachael Ray has been an advocate for animals and a supporter of animal welfare groups. Her love for animals and for her pit bull, Isaboo, inspired her to create a pet food called Nutrish® to raise money for animals in need.  Ray donates 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of Nutrish® to organizations like the ASPCA so they can implement programs like the $100K Challenge and support shelters and animal organizations around the country.

To find a contestant near you, please visit http://challenge.aspcapro.org/contestants. To see a complete list of events as they are scheduled, please stay tuned to http://challenge.aspcapro.org/events throughout the contest. The ASPCA also has joined the contestants and all of their supporters in tweeting with the unique hashtag #100KChallenge. The ASPCA encourages animal lovers to use #100KChallenge on Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word about adopting animals from shelters in the contest.

The ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge is a groundbreaking contest that challenges animal shelters across the country to come up with innovative ways to engage their communities and get more homeless cats and dogs into loving homes. For more information about the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge, please visit www.aspca.org/100kchallenge.