ASPCA $100K Challange

ASPCA will recognize the shelter that has the largest increase in lives saved by paying out a $100,000 grant to that shelter.  OCAS’s goal is to adopt out 2200 shelter pets between August 1 and October 31.  To date, they have already adopted out over 130 animals!

What is the ASPCA $100K Challenge?

• The ASPCA $100K Challenge is a contest that inspires shelters to innovate and stretch to save more lives. Fifty competing shelters from across the country will work 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.

What do the winning shelters receive?

• First place: a $100,000 grant will go to the contestant that goes the farthest over 300 more lives saved.
• Second place: a $25,000 grant will go to the contestant with the second highest increase in lives saved.
• Best in Region: a $20,000 grant will be awarded to the contestant that increases lives saved the most in each of five regions.
• Community Engagement Award: a $25,000 grant will be awarded to the contestant that does the best job of engaging its community members in helping to save more lives.
• Plus nearly $100,000 in smaller grants awarded for monthly gains, a photo contest and general participation.

How were the contestants selected?

• Contestant shelters won their slots in the Challenge by getting the most online votes from their community members during an initial qualifying heat (April 4 – 15).

How will competing animal shelters go about saving more lives?

• Competing animal shelters will try a combination of increasing adoptions – through both on-site, mobile, satellite and event adoptions – and increasing the number of lost animals reunited with their owners.

How can members of the community help?

• Concerned members of the community can help by always making pet adoption their first option, by becoming a foster family for a local homeless pet, and by volunteering at their local shelter. Businesses can host or sponsor events. Donors can pledge prizes to help meet adoption goals.
• When community members get involved, they will not only be helping the animals, but they will also be increasing their local shelter’s chances of winning the Community Engagement Award: $25,000 for the shelter that enlists the most community support in this life-saving effort.

How successful is the ASPCA’s $100K Challenge at helping shelters to save more lives?

• Last year’s first-ever ASPCA $100K Challenge contestants saved a total of 7,362 more animals as compared to the same three month period in 2009.
• $100K Challenge winner, the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colo., alone saved 2,640 cats and dogs in just three months’ time – an increase of 968 cats and dogs over their 2009 numbers.
• In total, $100K Challenge contestants saved 48,779 lives in just three short months.

How big of a problem is Pet Homelessness and Overpopulation?

• Millions of companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year and approximately 60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats are euthanized due to lack of space or the resources to adequately care for them. These are national estimates; the percentage of euthanasia may vary from state to state.
• Shelter intakes nationally are likely about evenly divided between those relinquished by owners and those picked up by animal control.
• Less than two percent of cats and only 15 to 20 percent of dogs are returned to their owners.* Most of these were identified with tags, tattoos or microchips.
• Many of the animals received by shelters have not been spayed or neutered. Seventy five percent of owned pets are neutered.
• The average number of litters a fertile cat produces is one to two a year; the average number of kittens in litters is between four and six.
• The average number of litters a fertile dog produces is one a year; the average number of puppies in litters is between four and six.
• It is impossible to determine how many stray dogs and cats live in the US; estimates for cats alone range up to 70 million.
• Owned cats and dogs generally live longer, healthier lives than strays.