Ramona Humane Society in San Jacinto, Calif., Wins West Region in ASPCA $100K Challenge

NEW YORK--The ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) today announced that Ramona Humane Society (RHS) in San Jacinto, Calif., has won the West region in the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge and will receive a $20,000 grant. RHS found homes for 1,403 pets during the three-month competition, an increase of 476 animals saved over the same period last year and more than any other contestant in the West region.

"RHS emerged as a front-runner in the contest very early on," said Bert Troughton, vice president of community outreach for the ASPCA. "Their first two major adoption events alone resulted in about 250 adoptions. Those events--which were no doubt a success due to their dedicated staff and volunteers--clearly became their signature, and we'd imagine they'll continue to utilize them long after the contest."

During the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge, contestants competed to save at least 300 more animals during the months of August, September, and October 2011--either by adoption or being reunited with their owners--than they did over the same three-month period in 2010. Forty-nine shelters from 33 states and territories across the United States worked to increase the number of animals saved in order to win a portion of the $300,000 in ASPCA prize grants, including the grand prize of $100,000.

In addition to RHS' win in the West Region, the ASPCA today is awarding the following prizes in the 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge:

• $100K Grand Prize and Southwest Regional Prize: Austin Pets Alive! in Austin, Texas, for having the biggest increase in lives saved;

• $25K 2nd Place Prize and $20K Southeast Regional Prize: Humane Society of South Mississippi in Gulfport, Miss., for having the second biggest increase in lives saved and the biggest increase in the Southeast region;

• $25K Community Engagement Award: Humane Society for Greater Savannah in Savannah, Ga., for doing the best job of getting its community involved in saving more animals;

• $20K Northeast Regional Prize: Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, Maine, for having the biggest increase in lives saved in the Northeast region; and

• $20K Midwest Regional Prize: City of Independence Animal Services in Independence, Mo., for having the biggest increase in lives saved in the Midwest region.

This year, ASPCA $100K Challenge contestants saved a total of 8,977 more animals as compared to the same three-month period in 2010. In total, 2011 $100K Challenge contestants saved 52,484 animals in just three months.

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 2012 ASPCA $100K Challenge, please stay tuned to http://challenge.aspcapro.org.