Ramona Humane Society in San Jacinto, Calif. Remains Leader of West Region After Second Month of ASPCA $100K Challenge

<p>Shelter Saved 870 Pets in Just 60 Days</p>
October 12, 2011

NEW YORK--The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced that Ramona Humane Society in San Jacinto, Calif. again is at the top of the leaderboard in the West region of the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge by sending 426 pets home during the second month of the three-month competition, an increase of 186 lives saved over the same month last year. In the first two months combined, RHS has adopted or reunited 870 animals, placing them first in their region and second in the nation in the rankings. Forty-nine shelters from 33 states and territories across the United States are working to increase lives saved in order to win a portion of the $300,000 in ASPCA prize grants, including a grand prize of $100,000. Contestants so far have saved a total of 33,636 animals in just 60 days.

Since the start of the ASPCA $100K Challenge, contestants have tried out new methods of driving traffic to their adoption centers - many have stayed open around the clock for 24-hour adoption events, offered unique promotions and discounts on adoption fees, and more.

"Ramona Humane Society continued strong as they entered the second month of the contest by teaming up with a local PetSmart to hold a major adoption event, and it paid off with nearly 150 animals adopted in just one weekend," said Bert Troughton, vice president of community outreach for the ASPCA. "The fact that they are still at the top of the West region after an exhausting 60 days is a testament to their dedicated staff and volunteers."

In addition to Ramona Humane Society, contestants in the Southwest region for the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge are: Ventura County Animal Services in Camarillo, Calif.; Butte Humane Society in Chico, Calif.; Riverside County Department of Animal Services in Riverside, Calif.; Valley Oak SPCA in Visalia, Calif.; Animal Friends of the Valleys in Wildomar, Calif.; Idaho Humane Society in Boise, Idaho; Seattle Humane Society in Bellevue, Wash.; and Kitsap Humane Society in Silverdale, Wash.

During the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge, contestants will compete to save at least 300 more animals--during the months of August, September, and October 2011--than they did over the same three-month period in 2010. The shelter with the biggest increase in animals saved will win a $100,000 grant. The agency that gets the most community members involved in saving animals will win a $25,000 grant, and those organizations that do the best in their regions will be eligible for between $5,000 and $25,000 in grants. In last year's first-ever ASPCA $100K Challenge, contestants saved a total of 48,779 lives over three months - an increase of 7,362 lives over the same three months in 2009.

It has long been a priority of the ASPCA to create a country of humane communities where there is no more euthanasia of homeless animals simply because of a lack of space or the resources to adequately care for them. The ASPCA $100K Challenge builds on that goal by inspiring shelters and their communities to innovate and act to save more animals.

For more information about the contest, please visit http://challenge.aspcapro.org. To locate a 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge contestant near you, please visit http://challenge.aspcapro.org/challenge/contestants. To see a complete list of 2011 $100K Challenge events as they are scheduled, please stay tuned to http://challenge.aspcapro.org/shelter/events/all throughout the contest.