Vancouver, December 11, 2009 - With Christmas and the Holiday Season just around the corner, The Humane Society of Canada is asking you to give thoughtful gifts that also help animals. We have a wide range of gifts for your pets, family and friends. When you spend your hard earned money with us every dollar goes to help animals.

We are also hoping that companies which give gifts to their staff and send out holiday cards will also shop with The Humane Society of Canada. You can visit our Online Store at www.humanesociety.com or call toll free 1-800-641-KIND (5463) from anywhere in Canada or the United States to place your order. The price you see for each item is what you pay, and includes all taxes, as well as shipping and handling costs. We will ship gifts anywhere in Canada or around the world.

We put a great deal of thought into coming up with great gift ideas. Animals need all the help they can get, and since you’re spending money at this time of year anyway, we hope that you’ll think about doing some of your gift shopping with us.

“The revenue generated from our Online Adventure Store helps fund our numerous animal protection and environmental programs” says Al Hickey, HSC Western Regional Director. “So, if you purchase a gift from our Online Adventure Store, your thoughtful gesture will have several benefits for animals and the environment – some for years to come.”

“All of the items we sell are reasonably priced, quality products which have been carefully chosen,” says HSC Executive Director Michael O’Sullivan. “There is something for everyone – including wonderful gifts for children, four-legged family members and our wild bird friends.”

The Humane Society of Canada works to protect dogs, cats, horses, birds, rabbits and small animals, livestock, lab animals and the environment. They carry out hands on programs to help animals and nature, mount rescue operations, expose cruelty through hard hitting undercover investigations, work to pass laws to protect animals, fund non-invasive scientific research, support animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centres and spread the word about how to help animals and nature through humane education.

A few suggestions of gifts that would be popular for those special animal companions in your life include:

Safe Havens Program

For a $25 donation we will send a stuffed toy to a family shelter that cares for women, children and pets at risk from domestic violence. One shelter wrote to us: “…the toys are sure to bring smiles to the faces of our youngest to oldest … so that during this traumatic phase in their lives they have something of their own to hug …”

Wildlife Guardian Program

For a $30 donation to the Wildlife Guardian Program you can protect an animal of your choice. This unique package includes: (i) a note card to the recipient (ii) a certificate of appreciation suitable for framing (iii) a photo of the animal (iv) a stuffed toy and (v) a fact sheet regarding the threats facing the animal and how your money and concern is protecting the species.

The animals available for protection in the Wildlife Guardians Program are: (i) whale (ii) dolphin (iii) tiger (iv) elephant (v) sea turtle (vi) bear (vii) lion (viii) giraffe and (ix) lemur(x) snow leopard (xi) gorilla (xii) harp seal (xiii) narwhal

Animal Guardian Program

Animal Guardians is an initiative supporting our programs to protect domestic pets, lab animals, horses and farm animals. With a $30 donation people can give a unique one of a kind gift to a friend, colleague, family mem­ber, loved one or themselves. We include a beautiful animal note card with a handwritten message in fountain pen, a package containing a certificate of appreciation suitable for framing and a photograph of the animal. Also included is a stuffed toy and a fact sheet on the issues such as overpopulation, and abandonment that these ani­mals face and how their money and their concern is hard at work protecting animals. Currently available: Cat, Dog, and Pet Birds, Horses and Guinea Pigs.

Adopt-An-Acre of Rainforest

A $25 donation entitles you to adopt an acre of rainforest in Colombia. Tropical rainforests are disappearing at the alarming rate of 149 acres every minute. 137 species become extinct every day. Your donation to help protect the rainforest enables you to receive: (i) a certificate of appreciation suitable for framing (ii) a photograph of the rainforest and (iii) a fact sheet on the threats facing rainforests and how your donation and concern will protect these vital ecosystems.

Children’s Books

Children love books about animals. Smokey the Screech Owl, Clara the Chicken and Flight to Freedom are three fun stories with a humane message that will delight children.

Gifts for Pets

You can shop for your feline and canine companions at the Online Adventure Store too! Dog biscuits and catnip treats are a couple of items that your pets will enjoy. A practical, and potentially life-saving, gift is the HSC Animal First Aid Kit. This quality kit is economically priced at only $29.99!

Online Adventure Store

The Online Adventure Store offers a good selection of items pertaining to animals and/or the environment – everything including t-shirts, veterinary certificates, bird feeders and seed and much, much more. Please drop by the Online Adventure Store located at www.humanesociety.com or telephone, toll free, 1-800-641-KIND (5463).

Book of Remembrance

This is a lasting memorial section for people and animals and we encourage you to send us photos and write whatever you like about your favourite animals and your favourite animal lovers. We will feature the heroes who have saved animals and the animal heroes who have saved people. Here we will read the heart-warming stories and adventures of animals and what they mean to a family who treasures them now or who is missing them terribly because they have passed away. In an effort to properly honour a person’s tremendous lifetime achievements on behalf of animals and people, you can include photographs and write about their life to provide us with more insights into what a great person their truly were. Their life and their story will be included permanently in our Book of Remembrance that is now available for a global audience to read and appreciate. Just one small way we can have a fitting remembrance for the animals and the people whose works and kindnesses have touched the lives of so many. There is no charge for this service, although a donation is gratefully accepted.

Pet Recovery Team

When your pet goes missing, a valued member of your family is lost. The Humane Society of Canada's Pet Recovery Team helps reunite lost pets with their families through a special network which includes giving each one of your pets an id tag bearing your pet's name and your contact telephone numbers. On the other side of the tag, is a unique serial number keyed to each one of your pets' information, complete with The Humane Society of Canada's toll free number, which works from anywhere in North America and we will accept collect calls from anywhere in the world. There is no charge for this service, although a donation is gratefully accepted.

CONTACT: Al Hickey or Michael O'Sullivan by toll free 1-800-641-KIND or Michael on his cell phone (416) 876-9685 or at www.humanesociety.com

[For more than 17 years, Al Hickey was the Chief Executive of the BC SPCA and before that headed up the Alberta and BC Chambers of Commerce, and the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vancouver. He has 6 grandchildren.

A father with two children, and a houseful of dogs and cats, O'Sullivan has worked across Canada and in over 100 countries during the last 40 years helping people, animals and nature.]

The Humane Society of Canada works to protect dogs, cats, rabbits and other small animals, horses, birds, livestock, lab animals, wildlife and the environment. They carry out hands on programs to help animals and nature, mount rescue operations, expose cruelty through hard hitting undercover investigations, work to pass laws to protect animals, support animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centres and spread the word about how to help animals and nature through humane education.

A registered charity, The Humane Society of Canada dependsentirely on donations to support our programs to help animals and theenvironment. All donations are gratefully acknowledged with a receipt forincome tax purposes. If you would like to support our campaign to protectanimals and the earth, please make a donation at www.humanesociety.com. Becausewhen it comes to fighting cruelty, we don’t give up. Ever.