Attention Maryland Pet Lovers! Please help support Hokie, Maryland's contestant, in the national Petco.com 2005 Halloween Photo Contest! To cast your vote for Hokie, please visit: http://www.Petco.com and click on the "Howl-O-Ween" Pet Photo Contest link located directly on the home page. All votes must be cast by October 30, 2005. All voters will be automatically entered in a special drawing to win a free bag of Iams Dog or Cat Food! You may vote as often as once a day! Petco is selecting five weekly winners on both 10/20/05 and 10/27/05...

Date : Wednesday, August 31, 2005

NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Terri Crisp, Founder and Director of Noah's Wish, a not-for-profit organization that works exclusively to save animals after disasters, has set up rescue operations in Slidell, Louisiana. Crisp is being joined by more than 450 trained volunteers from across the nation to assist in the recovery efforts in the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers include veterinarians, veterinary technicians and grief counselors.

Because most shelters do not allow pets, except for seeing-eye dogs and service animals, most pets are simply abandoned when families flee. Crisp estimates that over the next few weeks she and her team will rescue more than 1,000 pets.

"Noah's Wish exists to help people just as much as we help animals," says Crisp. "We will provide temporary shelter for pets whose owners have lost their homes and hopefully our teams will be able to reunite lost pets with their owners." ...