TROY – Partners For Pets, a no-kill animal rescue located in Troy, has been chosen as a finalist for Animal Planet’s Pet Nation Renovation contest. Now, it is up for the public to vote and help the rescue complete their new shelter before the April 4th deadline.
If chosen as the contest’s winner, the shelter will receive a $180,000 grand prize for a renovation to their 5,000-square-foot facility. The television station will also send a camera crew and construction crew to undertake the project and broadcast it nationwide.
“We’d be able to sit back, relax and watch it all happen,” Partners For Pets’ Erika Skouby-Pratte said. “It will help us finish our shelter and help us move the animals into a much more comfortable environment.”
The shelter has grown from the owner’s 1,200-square-foot garage with over 12 years of hard work and dedication put into the project, and currently houses 65 dogs and 50 cats who would have otherwise been euthanized.
“The first time you go into our old shelter, you may cry. You just see crates stacked on top of each other in a crowded space. It’s overwhelming,” Skouby-Pratte said. “You have to keep in mind that these animals would have been euthanized and that this is a temporary thing.”
Now, moving into the new but overall incomplete location, the pets will have an adequate amount of space and comfort while waiting to be adopted or placed in foster homes. Luckily, the rescue has a very successful adoption or foster rate and animals are not typically in the rescue for more than 30 days.
The possibility of winning this contest would mean the world to the rescue and all of its volunteers.
“It’s very close to my heart and close to a lot of people’s hearts,” she said. “It’s been a long dream that we’ve all had.”
Voting ends on April 4th and users can submit their votes at the Animal Planet Website.
