Know a super pet-lover? They could win $1,000 for their favourite pet shelter this month thanks to a contest run by a national pet food company.
Global Pet Foods put out a call for nominations earlier this month for its third annual Heroic Heart Pet Service Award. The award recognizes exceptional volunteers at pet shelters and animal rescues.
Global Pet Foods staffers see a lot of abandoned pets whose owners can’t or won’t care for them, says Sarah Beaton, the company’s director of operations. This award is meant to highlight the efforts of those who care for these animals and empower them to help more.
“It’s for people who really have gone above and beyond the call of duty,” Beaton says.
One of last year’s winners was Quebec’s Gerdy Cox-Gouron – a 71-year-old lung cancer survivor and volunteer with Gerdy’s Rescues and Adoptions. A long-time volunteer with the SPCA, she has helped thousands of animals find new homes and funded surgeries for many pets, often out of her own pocket.
She also, as a child, caused a bit of a pet stampede at her dad’s drug manufacturing lab, Beaton notes.
“She let all the lab animals out of their cages because she felt it was wrong,” she says.
Canadians outside of Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Territories can nominate a person of their choice at facebook.com/globalpetfoods before Sept. 30. Nominees must be 18 or older, be volunteers at an animal rescue or shelter organization, and not live in Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador or the Territories.
The four winners will receive $1,000 to cover costs associated with their associated animal shelter or rescue group and 12 bags of pet food, Beaton says. Winners will be announced this November.
Global Pet Foods is the world’s largest Canadian-owned chain of speciality pet food and supply stores and has an outlet in St. Albert.
