Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, Maine Remains Leader of Northeast Region after Second Month of ASPCA $100K Challenge

NEW YORK--The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced that Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, Maine is at the top of the leaderboard in the Northeast Region of the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge for the second month in a row. GAHS sent 334 pets home during the second month of the three-month competition, an increase of 117 lives saved over the same month last year. In the first two months combined, GAHS has adopted or reunited 741 animals, placing them first in their region and fifth 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, many 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.

"By early September, Greater Androscoggin Humane Society already had eclipsed the mark of 500 lives saved - a goal that sounded and felt so far away to them when the contest began. Well, again they've shattered their own goals. By the end of September, they surpassed 700 lives saved, and they're still going strong," said Bert Troughton, vice president of community outreach for the ASPCA.

In addition to Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, contestants in the Northeast region for the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge are: Washington Animal Rescue League in Washington, D.C.; Washington Humane Society in Washington, D.C.; Animal Rescue League of Boston in Boston, Mass.; Lowell Humane Society in Lowell, Mass.; New Hampshire SPCA in Stratham, N.H.; Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown, N.J.; Animal Welfare Association in Vorhees, N.J.; Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary in Middletown, N.Y.; Rochester Animals Services in Rochester, N.Y.; Angels for Animals in Canfield, Ohio; Animal Rescue League of Western PA in Pittsburgh, Pa.; and PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society) in Philadelphia, Pa.

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.