Saving Pets One Picture at a Time: PetSmart Charities® Launches New Share a Pic, Save a Pet Facebook Application

PHOENIX, April 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- "Like" pets? Saving homeless pets' lives is now as easy as adding an application to your Facebook profile. Share a Pic, Save a Pet, created by non-profit PetSmart Charities^® and powered by Adopt-a-Pet.com, is a unique online application to drive public awareness and increase adoptions of the nearly 8 million homeless pets in the United States.

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Share a Pic, Save a Pet transforms individual Facebook profiles into social billboards, alerting their friends, family and followers about adoptable pets in their own community that need lifelong, loving homes. Specifically, the application gives Facebook users a unique way to 'donate' their profile to save pets in the community, showcasing local pets' pictures and information about where they can be adopted.

"Share a Pic, Save a Pet is an innovative way to use social media to promote pet adoption locally," said Susana Della Maddalena, executive director of PetSmart Charities, Inc. "Adoption saves lives, and we believe this application will spark pet lovers to spread the word about the thousands of wonderful adoptable pets looking for forever homes – at the click of a button."

How to Use Share a Pic, Save a Pet   
Using Share a Pic, Save a Pet is quick and easy. Here are the few simple steps that any Facebook user can take to showcase pets in need of adoption and encourage others to do the same:

• Go to http://apps.facebook.com/shareapic-saveapet/.
• Input your ZIP code.
• Select up to 10 adoptable dogs or cats to showcase on your profile by breed, color, size and gender.
• Adopt-a-Pet.com's nationwide shelter database enables Share a Pic, Save a Pet to populate your Facebook profile with photos of local pets available for adoption and links to local animal-welfare organizations where the pets are available for adoption. These pictures are shared directly to your friends' newsfeeds and on your Facebook timeline.

PetSmart Charities has helped save nearly 5 million pets through its in-store adoption program and aims to save the lives of the 11,000 adoptable pets who are euthanized every day in the United States simply because they do not have homes. The goal for Share a Pic, Save a Pet is to help people save more pets, both virally and through real-time adoption.

Follow PetSmart Charities' pet-saving endeavors through Facebook (www.facebook.com/savehomelesspets) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/PetSmartChariTs). Support PetSmart Charities' other life-saving programs by making a tax-deductible donation online, by email at [email protected] or via phone at 623-587-2826.

ABOUT ADOPT-A-PET.COM
Adopt-a-Pet.com is North America's largest non-profit pet adoption website, helping over 11,000 animal shelters, humane societies, SPCAs, pet rescue groups, and pet adoption agencies advertise their homeless pets to adopters. Every month, Adopt-a-Pet.com displays photos and descriptions of adoptable pets to over 2 million people looking to adopt a pet. Learn more at www.adoptapet.com.

About PetSmart Charities®
Established in 1994, PetSmart Charities, Inc. is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that creates and supports programs that save the lives of homeless pets, raise awareness of companion animal welfare issues and promote healthy relationships between people and pets. The largest funder of animal-welfare efforts in North America, PetSmart Charities has provided more than $165 million in grants and programs benefiting animal-welfare organizations and has helped save the lives of nearly 5 million pets through its in-store adoption program. To learn more about how PetSmart Charities is working toward its vision of a lifelong, loving home for every pet, visit petsmartcharities.org or call 1-800-423-PETS (7387).

SOURCE PetSmart Charities