LIMA, OH – The Postal Service is reminding the public to remember the dogs and cats looking for homes at their local animal shelter with the release of the Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative postage stamps and its Stamps to the Rescue promotional campaign.

The Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet commemorative stamps feature photographs of five cats and five dogs taken by veteran stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce. All ten animals were adopted from a shelter in New Milford, CT.

The stamps continue a Postal Service tradition of bringing attention to serious social issues of the day — one letter at a time. The campaign will increase public awareness about sheltered pets and hopefully encourage pet adoption and promote humane and responsible pet care.

The stamps were introduced to the public on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The Postal Service is working with DeGeneres and Halo, Purely for Pets, a holistic pet care company she co-owns, to promote the campaign and to bring greater attention to the cause.

To help promote the stamps – and raise pubic awareness about shelter animals – local animal groups will be at area Post Offices on April 30:

• Lima Post Office, 350 W. High St., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. – Humane Society of Allen County, Allen County Animal Control and Debsdogs.
• Troy Post Office, 305 S. Market St., noon-3 p.m. – Miami County Animal Shelter.
• Xenia Post Office, 189 E. Main St., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. – Greene County Animal Control and Puppy Pals Rescue.
• Wapakoneta Post Office, 12 Willipe St., noon-3 p.m. – Auglaize County Humane Society.

Dogs and cats will be available for adoption on-site. Information about dog control laws of the Ohio revised code also will be available.

Stamps to the Rescue is the name of the promotional campaign created by the Postal Service to provide additional information about the stamps and pet adoption.This campaign includes posters featuring DeGeneres placed in Post Office lobbies across the nation and a new website — stampstotherescue.com.

Every year, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters, and of that number, nearly half are euthanized. Although the problem seems overwhelming, the key to the solution is adopting a shelter pet when seeking a new companion and ensuring that the animal is spayed or neutered.

Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet is the Postal Service’s 2010 social awareness stamp. Past social awareness stamps have highlighted important issues such as children’s health, literacy, breast cancer awareness, organ and tissue donation, philanthropy and Alzheimer’s awareness.

The stamps go on sale April 30 and can be pre-ordered at usps.com/shop, stampstotherescue.com, or by calling 1.800.STAMP.24 (1.800.782.6724).

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.