Petco Love Donates Vaccines and Needed Pet Food to Partnership With Native Americans

ADDISON, Texas, March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- National nonprofit organizations, Petco Love and Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA), have joined forces to distribute vaccines with PWNA's reservation partners in the Southwest and Northern Plains. Petco Love has also donated 10,000 pounds of dog and cat food for distribution at the free vaccine clinics. Seventy percent of the vaccines and food are for dogs; thirty percent is for cats.

Reservations often do not have local stores where supplies such as pet food are available or affordable. These communities tend to be remote and geographically isolated locations, away from the mainstream. Recently, Petco delivered 5,000 pounds of this food donation to PWNA's distribution center in Rapid City, S.D. and the other 5,000 to PWNA's Phoenix, Ariz. facility. The vaccine clinics will run throughout the month of March on participating reservations. 

Petco Love established March as National Pet Vaccination Month to encourage pet parents to keep pets up to date on their vaccinations. Contagious and deadly diseases impacting pets are preventable with a simple vaccine. On reservations in particular, overpopulation of strays coupled with limited veterinary care and stressed family budgets leave many animals in those communities in need of care. Issues such as untreated strays, animal bites and rabies can raise community health concerns as well.

PWNA supports animal welfare groups who rescue, rehabilitate and place stray dogs and cats in foster or forever homes. PWNA also subsidizes spay and neuter clinics and vaccinations in remote Native American tribal communities.

"Thanks to Petco Love, our partners will be able to offer these important vaccines at no cost to pet guardians in Native American communities," said Ashleigh Hughes, VP of Development & Communications at PWNA. "In addition, Petco's gift of 10,000 pounds of food is estimated to serve between 5,000 and 7,000 pets in 10 to 12 Native American communities across the country. This project is a positive step toward addressing animal welfare issues and will be a welcome relief to our tribal partners who support healthy pets in these communities." 

National Pet Vaccination Month is a continuation of Petco Love's 1 million free pet vaccine campaign, which has helped distribute 500,000 vaccines to date.

About Petco Love
Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Today, our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Visit petcolove.org or follow at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we're leading every day.

About Partnership With Native Americans
Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) is one of the largest Native-led nonprofits in the U.S. Established in 1990, PWNA serves immediate needs and support long-term solutions in remote and geographically isolated reservation communities. Through its Reservation Animal Rescue (RAR) program, PWNA supports rescue, rehabilitation, vaccinations, spay/neuter and placement of animals on the reservation. Visit NativePartnership.org and RARprogram.org to learn more. Follow PWNA on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to stay informed and support Native equity every day.

Contact: Helen Oliff | [email protected] 540-825-5950 x205

SOURCE Partnership with Native Americans