Milan, June 9, 2009 – Mars Italia launches today the project “Pedigree® per le Adozioni” in response to the struggle against abandonment and with the goal to inform the public and raise awareness on the importance of the psycho-physical well-being of dogs kept in kennels and shelters by promoting their adoption.

The project is implemented in cooperation with Lega del Cane and its Milan section in particular. Lega del Cane is an outstanding partner with a widespread footprint all over Italy and committed to this important cause.

Pedigree® has always supported the idea that all dogs deserve a happy life for the inexhaustible loyalty they show to their owners. This belief is then translated into the effort to not only make top quality food based on research, but to also engage in concrete activity to improve canine daily life from a social viewpoint. The project ‘Pedigree® per le Adozioni’, in particular, aims at finding a new home for the dogs, thus aiming to reduce abandonment.

Recent data collected on this phenomenon, in fact, point out to about 100,000 dogs abandoned in Italy in one year, including 11,000 in Lombardy alone (source: healthcare company). The over 1,000 kennels/ shelters in our country host to about 150,000 dogs. These figures show that, unfortunately, these facilities are not well suited to accommodate an appropriate number of pets, and thus point out to the importance of adoptions.

The section “Trova un cane” (Find a dog) on the website www.pedigreeperleadozioni.it shows lots of nice pets waiting with confidence at the Shelter in Segrate (Milan), operated by Lega del Cane, for a family wishing to adopt them. A photo, a name, and a short description of the dog’s features can provide useful preliminary information to select the pet that is best suited for one’s living habits, before meeting personally with it at the shelter.

To promote an utterly conscious and responsible adoption, the section “Adotta un cane”(Adopt a dog) provides tips from Pedigree® to understand whether one is truly prepared to take care of a dog: simple but very useful suggestions to prepare and welcome the new mate and thus avoid later second thoughts. And, of course, there are many stories with a happy ending about pets that found happiness in some families and about families that found joy in them.

But even if you cannot adopt one, the website helps you find out how you can contribute to their well-being during their stay in the shelters through donations to Lega del Cane.

“The initiative ‘Pedigree® per le Adozioni confirms the thirty-year long commitment of Mars in suggesting, funding, and implementing educational projects of a social and scientific interest in the area of ‘Responsible Pet Ownership’,’” said Antonella Baggini, Corporate Affairs Manager of Mars Italia. “The aim of such projects is to promote the appropriate relationship that should be in place between man and pet, to provide benefits to both. The project ‘Pedigree® per le Adozioni’ falls within this framework and is aimed at helping curb the phenomenon of abandonment of dogs striving to find a new home for them, where they can live happily and beloved by their owners”.

With “Pedigree® per le Adozioni” the dogs hosted in the kennels will now have one more chance to live a happier life and, thanks to the contribution and participation of all pet lovers, it can become a virtual reference point for those that are involved in the struggle against abandonment.

Ketchum – Mars Italia Press Office
Daniela Antolini – Tel. +3902 62411947
Emanuela dell’Isola – Tel. +3902 62411949