Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (Oct. 18, 2017) –Tuesday, October 3rd, Helen Woodward Animal Center and Blue Buffalo launched the 19th annual Home 4 the Holidays campaign in a very big way. Orphan puppies from New York-based Paws Crossed Animal Rescue joined Center President & CEO Mike Arms and Blue Buffalo CEO Billy Bishop in Times Square to ring in NASDAQ’s opening bell. The publicly-traded pet food company, Blue Buffalo (Nasdaq: BUFF), has supported Helen Woodward Animal Center’s holiday campaign since 2013, helping place over a million orphan pets into loving homes each holiday season. The Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays campaign runs from October 1st, 2017 through January 2nd, 2018.
Home 4 the Holidays is an annual, international, three‐month pet‐adoption drive dedicated to finding happy, loving homes for orphan pets. The campaign began 19 years ago when Helen Woodward Animal Center president and CEO Mike Arms noticed that a majority of rescue facilities were closing their doors during the holiday season – a primary time of year for family pet additions. With shelter doors closed, would-be adopters were resorting to shopping at pet stores or puppy mills for holiday pet purchases. Not only did this increase the business of non-reputable stores and backyard breeders, but Arms was aware that the staff at these businesses were rarely trained to assess the likelihood of a successful animal/family match, increasing the number of pets sent to shelters once the season was over.
The Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays campaign asks shelters to keep their doors open throughout the holiday months and provides marketing tools to get the word out. Blue Buffalo distributes 600,000 pet adoption kits to participating shelter and rescue organizations to help pet parents get off to a great start with their adopted pet. The kits include pet food coupons and a petfolio to record health information and track pet milestones. The company also provides invaluable national marketing support to raise awareness for the Home 4 the Holidays campaign, driving potential adopters to participating rescue facilities. Through a collective group of over 4,000 pet adoption agencies and rescue‐groups, located throughout all 50 states and 24 countries, this campaign has become the largest pet adoption campaign on record, helping save over 13 million pets since 1999.
“The support that Blue Buffalo puts behind this program each year is an incredible gift,” said Arms. “All of the participating adoption organizations benefit from months of campaign-messaging encouraging families to visit their local rescue group or pet adoption center over the holiday season to give orphan pets a chance.”
“This annual campaign is important to animal shelters, rescue groups and veterinarians nationwide because it helps adopt millions of orphan pets into forever homes,” said David Petrie, President of the Blue Buffalo Foundation. “Blue Buffalo is proud to support pet adoption programs throughout the year and we look forward to the 2017 Home 4 the Holidays campaign.”
There are many ways to get involved in the Blue Buffalo Home 4 the Holidays campaign including adopting, and encouraging friends to adopt and then showing the world your newly adopted best friend by posting a photo at https://animalcenter.org/home-4-the-holidays/, or sharing on Twitter or Instagram with #IChoseToRescue and tagging @hwac and @bluebuffalo. All participants will be entered for a chance to win a year's supply of Blue Buffalo pet food for their pet and life-saving funds for the pet adoption organization their pet was adopted from. For more information about the campaign or to find out how to get involved, go to www.home4theholidays.org.
Helen Woodward Animal Center is located at 6461 El Apajo Road in Rancho Santa Fe. For information regarding available adoptables, log on to www.animalcenter.org.
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About Home 4 the Holidays (H4TH)
As one of the most successful pet adoption programs in the world, H4TH partners with thousands of animal organizations dedicated to finding forever homes for orphan pets. Founded by Helen Woodward Animal Center and in partnership with Blue Buffalo this year, the program began in 1999 with just 14 participating animal shelters in San Diego County. Since it began 19 years ago, partner organizations in the Home 4 the Holidays campaign have helped more than 13 million families experience the joy of pet adoption, including more than 1.3 million pet adoptions last year alone. For more information, please visit www.home4theholidays.org.
About Helen Woodward Animal Center
Helen Woodward Animal Center is a private, non-profit organization where “people help animals and animals help people.” Founded in 1972 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Center provides services for more than 57,000 people and thousands of animals annually through adoptions, educational and therapeutic programs both onsite and throughout the community. Helen Woodward Animal Center is also the creator of the International Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive, the International Remember Me Thursday® campaign and The Business of Saving Lives Workshops, teaching the business of saving lives to animal welfare leaders from around the world. For more information, go to: www.animalcenter.org.
About Blue Buffalo
Blue Buffalo, based in Wilton, Conn., is the nation's leading natural pet food company, and provides natural foods and treats for dogs and cats under its BLUE Life Protection Formula, BLUE Wilderness, BLUE Basics, BLUE Freedom and BLUE Natural Veterinary Diet lines. Paying tribute to its founding mission, the Company, through the Blue Buffalo Foundation, is also a leading sponsor of pet cancer awareness and of critical studies of pet cancer, health, treatment and nutrition at top veterinary medical schools across the United States. For more information, visit www.BlueBuffalo.com.
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Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b9e1274b-64e1-431b-b8ce-058b93713346
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dd0d34d7-f4aa-4c24-9a6b-460f61dc9657