Staff writer
Doggone it.
Washington Area Humane Society came up short in its bid to win a $1 million makeover from Zootoo.com, an Internet site for pet lovers.
The Web site selected Stray Rescue of St. Louis, Humane Society of the Ohio Valley in Marietta, Ohio, and Jefferson County SPCA of Watertown, N.Y., as the three finalists.
Zootoo.com announced the finalists Thursday at the 2008 Humane Society of the United States Animal Expo Conference in Orlando, Fla. Those three will go to New York City, where the winner will be announced May 21.
Washington Area Humane Society placed among the top 20 animal shelters, out of more than 1,000 shelters that participated in the national competition. The second-place shelter will receive $10,000, while the remaining 18 shelters each will win $5,000
"It's devastating, but a lot of good came out of it," said Jet Miskis, a volunteer at the shelter, referring to the outpouring of support the shelter received from the community during the competition. "The community really stepped up. The list just goes on and on of dozens of small businesses to large corporations, churches, schools and organizations who really stepped up to help us."
The Washington County legislative delegation gave a $15,000 grant for new surgery room equipment; Consol Energy donated $2,500 and pledged to donate land to the shelter if it won the contest; Range Resources donated $10,000, and several area landscapers donated supplies.
Zootoo.com founder Richard Thompson, who visited the shelter April 15, considered three criteria: online voting, community support and need.
Washington Area Humane Society lapped the competition in online voting, accumulating more than 2.5 million points, 900,000 more votes than the runner-up.
Shelter supporters turned out in droves when Thompson visited the no-kill, nonprofit shelter last month, waving signs and dog leashes.
"We did a phenomenal job," said Miskis. "We wanted to make it difficult for them to turn us down, and we did that. I think we met every bit of criteria. I thought they should have put us in the top three."
Miskis questioned some of the competition procedures, saying the rules changed throughout the six-month contest.
"There were a lot of things about this competition, where I thought Zootoo was out of touch with the true needs of struggling shelters," said Miskis.
The cost for two humane society board members to attend the Animal Expo, for example, could have been spent on animal care, she said.
"I don't feel bad for the animals, because they're loved and taken care of. We will do the work, we will do it ourselves. We will get there. It may take longer, but we'll make it better for the animals little by little."
The animal shelter chooses to look at the positive effects of the contest.
Since the campaign launched, the adoption rate has jumped 12 percent. The number of volunteer dog walkers also has increased.
"We have more walkers now than we've ever had. It used to be that not a single dog was walked Monday through Friday," said Miskis. "Now, we have dog walkers almost every day."