NATURA, NATURAL BALANCE,
OTHERS DONATE TO SENIOR
ANIMAL FUND
The Lincoln County Animal
Shelter and Coastal Humane Society are the recipients of more
than $3,000 in dog food, cat
food and treats to feed their senior population, courtesy of The
Animal House in Damariscotta,
Maine, through partnerships
with Natura Pet Products and
Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc.
“The idea is that the dogs
and cats look and feel better
being on high-quality food, in
the hopes that they will be more
adoptable,” said Aubrey Martin,
president of The Animal House.
Halo, Purely for Pets also
has agreed to donate through its
5,000 Bowls campaign; supplement company The Pet Health
People LLC will provide joint,
immunity and heart health
supplements.
“We are so fortunate to work
with our representatives, Jodi
Langelotti from Pet Food Ex-
perts, Rick Frautten from Natu-
ra, Kristen Harris from Natural
Balance, Kathleen Brennan from
Halo and Amy Paris from Pet
Health People, who organized
and supplied the donations,”
said Martin. “Hundreds of dogs
and cats in our community will
benefit from the high-quality
food and supplements.”
The Kelly Brook Memorial
Senior Fund also raised more
than $4,000 in November. The
funds will be used to waive the
adoption fees for senior dogs
and cats at both shelters. The
Animal House has been a dona-
tion spot for funds, which then
were matched by an anonymous
$2,500 donor. The Animal House
had a goal of reaching $5,000—
the equivalent of adopting out
100 seniors, with fees waived,
by the end of November.
The Animal House is a family-owned business with locations
in Damariscotta and Westbrook,
Maine. The company features
healthful food and supplies for
dogs, cats and companion animals, with a focus on nutritional consultations. The Animal
House is partnered with area
shelters and rescues and has,
to date, adopted out more than
1,000 cats and bunnies.
MILLION MEOW MISSION
SUPPORTS SHELTER CATS
The Clorox Co., the Oakland, Calif.-based maker of Fresh Step cat
litter, is continuing its mission to
help improve the lives of shelter
cats and help more shelter cats
find forever homes with the return of its Million Meow Mission.
Fresh Step is making a donation of 1 million scoops of litter to shelters nationwide while
offering enhanced opportunities for its Paw Points loyalty
members to get involved. Members can enter their Paw Points
code to show support for shelter
cats and receive a Million Meow
Mission badge to share on social
media; donate Paw Points to support shelters and receive a $2-off
Fresh Step coupon, while supplies last, and a Million Meow
Mission badge to share on social
media; and share their adoption
story with the community.
Participating shelters can redeem Paw Points for free Fresh
Step litter as well as other cat
necessities, care items and toys.
Shelter and rescue organizations
can register at freshstep.com/
pawpoints to begin receiving donations. Through its site, Fresh
Step will provide shelters and
rescues with materials to encourage their cat community to participate in the donation program.
“At Fresh Step, we understand
the immense amount of love and
joy our cuddly cats bring us,” said
Nick Meyer, Fresh Step’s director
of marketing, litter. “They reward
us in millions of ways, which is
why we are committed to giving
back through our Million Meow
Mission program.”
For more information on the
Million Meow Mission and to get
involved, visit freshstep.com.
BLUE BUFFALO, HELEN
WOODWARD HELP 300,000
ORPHANED DOGS, CATS
FIND HOMES IN 35 DAYS
Just over one month into this
past year’s Home 4 The Holidays program, Blue Buffalo and
the Helen Woodward Animal
Shelter were off to a successful
start toward giving dogs and
cats a second chance at a loving
home this past holiday season.
As of press time, 300,000 pets
had been adopted, and the annual Home 4 The Holidays
program was well on its way
toward helping find forever
homes for a total of 1 million
pets adopted by the end of 2015.
“Every animal deserves a
loving home, and we couldn’t
ask for a more dedicated partner
than the Helen Woodward Animal Center to help us achieve
this incredible goal,” said David
Petrie, vice president of Blue
Buffalo in Wilton, Conn.
“With so many homeless
pets across the country, we’re
able to make a real, lasting impact on shelter animals and
bring countless hours of unconditional love to the families that
choose to adopt,” he added.
Since their partnership, Blue
Buffalo and the Helen Wood-
ward Animal Shelter, working
with more than 4,000 rescue
organizations, have been
responsible for the adoption of
more than 2.7 million pets.
MYRESCUE.DOG CONTEST
RAISES MONEY FOR PET
SHELTERS
Tucson, Ariz.-based Petfinder Foundation, together with
Bellevue, Wash.-based Donuts
Inc., the largest owner/opera-tor of “not-com” domain names,
announced the winner of the
MyRescue.dog contest. The national campaign, which ran for
four weeks, was hosted on the
new .dog domain to help celebrate rescue dogs and the animal shelters and rescue groups
nationwide who save them every day.
Cora-Bella beat out more than
20,000 other rescues to secure the
top spot, and $25,000 will be donated to Midwest Dachshund Rescue
in Highland, Ind., in her honor.
As a rescue, Cora-Bella faced
many challenges, including
congenital heart failure, skin issues and other ailments. After
six months under the care of
Midwest Dachshund Rescue,
Cora-Bella is healthy, happy and
ready to find a forever home.
Through the contest, each
picture posted to MyRescue
.dog generated a $10 donation to Petfinder Foundation,
and each vote generated a $1
donation—up to $100,000.
More than 500,000 votes were
cast, and $100,000 was raised
for pet shelters nationwide.
Read more about Cora-Bella and the other winners at
MyRescue.dog.
Humane Society Spies Go Undercover
Undercover operatives em- ployed by the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS)
mounted a campaign against pet
stores in Georgia to find out if
they sold puppies from so-called
puppy mills.
Posing as customers, they
went to 13 pet stores in the state.
The HSUS report, released to the
media in December, alleges that
HSUS personnel “obtained visu-
al information from paperwork
about some of the breeders who
supply Georgia stores. Addition-
ally, researchers examined ship-
ping documentation for puppies
shipped to Georgia stores from
out-of-state during 2015, and re-
viewed Georgia Department of
Agriculture pet dealer inspection
reports. Investigators attempted
to visit several of the breeders
that supply to Georgia stores.”
In total, the activist group
claims “ 17 pet stores sell pup-
pies in the state of Georgia, and
HSUS investigators visited 13 of
these stores with hidden cameras
during 2015.“
They say that “documents
obtained through Georgia’s
Open Records law show that
over a period of 60 days this
summer, 551 puppies were
shipped from out-of-state facili-
ties to Georgia pet stores. Many
of these puppies came from Mis-
souri breeding operations—the
state with the highest concentra-
tion of some of the worst puppy
mills in the country.
“Some breeders found selling
to Georgia pet stores have serious
Animal Welfare Act violations on
their inspection reports includ-
ing: dogs with untreated, open
wounds; severe eye discharge;
feces in food bowls and heavily
matted fur,” the group added.
One particular target was the
Petland chain. HSUS alleges that
“all five Petland stores in Georgia
Midwest puppy mills, several
with violations so severe that an-
imals were found suffering with
conditions such as bleeding sores
and encrusted eyes. Some of
these violations were classified
as ‘direct’ on federal inspection
reports. Petland claims to have a
policy of not buying from breed-
ers with direct violations.”
HSUS quotes unnamed Pet-
land store employees in the report.
The stores targeted were: 19
breeders of John’s Creek; Janine’s
Noah’s Ark, Macon; Pet Stop,
Thomasville; Petland stores in
Columbus, Dalton, Dunwoody,
Kennesaw and Rome; Pets & Pals,
Albany; Puppies Galore, Lawrenceville; Tifton Pet Center, Tifton; Video Bazaar, Milledgeville;
and Village Pets, Gainesville.
More than $3,000 in donations came
through The Animal House’s partnership
with several pet food companies for
Coastal Humane Society and Lincoln
County Animal Shelter for the Kelly Brook
Memorial Fund to feed senior dogs and
cats. Animal House president Aubrey
Martin is seen here loading up the Coastal
Humane Society van.
PET HEALTH & WELFARE
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