Thanks to over 6,400 local animal lovers who voted for Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS), they won a spot in this year's ASPCA $100K Challenge, competing for grants from ASPCA totaling $300,000, including a top prize of $100,000.

The 2011 ASPCA $100K Challenge is a nationwide competition for animal shelters and their communities aiming to get more animals adopted or returned to their owners than ever before. Taking place from August 1 to October 31, 2011, VCAS will compete against 49 other shelters to find homes for more cats and dogs than it did during the same period in 2010.
The goal is to save at least 300 more animals.

During the three month Challenge period, VCAS is planning weekly events, both on and off the shelter site to bring attention to its shelter pets. A list of those events will be posted on its website and facebook pages (VCAnimalServices).

The theme of Ventura's Challenge is "Shelter Pets: The Best Home Improvement You Can Make". It and the logo came from the animal shelter's Facebook fans. Over the next three months the shelter is going to send out the message that a house is not a home w/out a pet.
And there are plenty of homeless pets that need a loving second home at the Ventura Shelter which is located at 600 Aviation Dr. in Camarillo.

Several celebrities have stepped forward and offered to help Ventura Animal Services send out this important message. On August 6th, a big kickoff event will include appearances by "That's So Raven" star Orlando Brown, "True Blood" actress Michelle Forbes, Animal Planet's "My Cat from Hell" cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy, Kim Sill of the Heigl Foundation, the Surfing Dog Ricochet, and the dancing dog team Appawse.

The event will include canine demonstrations, a grand opening of the shelter's new community cat room, a chance to listen to, meet and greet celebrities and of course, the opportunity to look for a new addition for your home among the shelter's many beautiful felines and canines.

To add to the excitement, all adoptions will be discounted. A large casino wheel has been donated to the shelter. The wheel, called the "The Wheel of Fortune" because any animal that gets adopted is
fortunate, has a discounted price on each spoke. Adopters get to spin
to see how much of a discount they will get. No matter what the discount, in the end everybody wins because a family gains a new pet and the pet gains a new home.

The August 6th event will take place during the shelter's normal Saturday hours 9am-4pm. For more information, or to view the animals that will be available for adoption, go to www.vcas.us.