Of the eight million pets that enter animal shelters and rescue groups every year, approximately three million of these healthy and treatable pets are euthanized due to a lack of adoption. Presently, most people do not obtain their pets from shelters, but rather from pet stores, the Internet, friends, breeders or other sources. In an effort to change this trend, The Shelter Pet Project is designed to encourage pet lovers to make shelters and rescue groups the first place they turn to when acquiring companion animals. Campaign ads use humor to give shelter pets a voice and break down negative stereotypes; contrary to popular beliefs, animals most frequently find themselves in shelters due to owner-related issues.

At the www.theshelterpetproject.org users can find information about how to adopt from a shelter, as well as a fun matching tool designed to help potential pet owners identify traits to look for in an animal. Based on results, it will even supply a list of suitable pets available in local shelters.

The campaign also encourages peple to become a fan and take a pledge to adopt a pet on Facebook, sign up on Twitter to receive tweets about adoptable shelter pets, interact on Myspace and view new “The Shelter Project” videos on YouTube.