Pearl River County’s SPCA is one of many contestants in the fourth annual 1-800-PetMeds 2017 National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week Contest.

According to contest rules, it is open to all animal shelters in the United States and the winner will receive a grand prize of $1,000. Second place will receive $500 worth of Flea5X Plus preventative medication and third place will receive $250 worth of the medication.

“I saw the advertisement for this contest one day and I thought it was a great way to help the animal shelter receive extra funding,” shelter volunteer Sonja Leenders said.

Voting for the contest began Nov. 10 and will end Nov. 20 at 11:59 p.m. ET. With over 80 animal shelters in the contest, Pearl River County SPCA currently has 155 votes, putting the local shelter far behind many others in the contest. To vote, visit https://r.wyng.com/p/07qLnvu and click on the “vote” link, located in the middle of the page. Only one vote per hour is allowed.

“At the animal shelter, we are always looking for ways to raise money and winning this contest would help us in a big way,” Leenders said. “I encourage everyone in the community to take a minute out of their day and go to the website from their phone or computer and vote for us.”