Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. Tops Northeast 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 Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. has pulled into the lead in the Northeast Division of the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge.  The shelter has adopted or reunited 1,365 pets during the first two months of the three-month competition, an increase of 216 lives saved over the same period last year. Through October, 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.

"Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center immediately celebrated their successes from the first month of the contest by holding big a fee-waived adoption event one September weekend, but not before the City of Pittsburgh honored them by declaring September 17 'Animal Rescue League Day' in the city," said Bert Troughton, vice president of community outreach for the ASPCA. "To have that kind of support from the local community is so important, and we’re blown away by their 1,365 lives saved in just two months."

In addition to Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center, contestants in the Northeast Division for the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge are:

• Bangor Humane Society in Bangor, Maine
• Talbot Humane in Easton, Md.
• Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter in Baltimore, Md.
• Montgomery County Humane Society in Rockville, Md.
• Eleventh Hour Rescue in Randolph, N.J.
• Humane League of Lancaster County in Lancaster, Pa.
• The Pennsylvania SPCA in Philadelphia, Pa.
• Animal Friends, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Last Chance Ranch, Inc. in Quakertown, Pa.

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.