2nd Pet Idol contest attracts a million votes

5/17/2008

Only 10 adorable animals remain in The Blade s Pet Idol contest, and the winner will be revealed tomorrow in The Blade, on www.toledoblade.com, and on co-sponsor WTVG-TV, Channel 13.

More than 1 million total votes have been cast as pet lovers pared down an initial pool of 350 animals. Each ballot could count for up to 50 votes.

The 10 finalists still vying for this year s title are:

•Moses, a Newfoundland owned by Keith Laws of East Toledo.

•Willow, a cat owned by Valerie Murphy of East Toledo.

•Sam, a husky-basenji mix owned by Beth Kerstetter of West Toledo.

•Zach, a Yorkie owned by Cindy Russeau of South Toledo.

•Winston, a shih tzu owned by Cheryl Bogedain of Sylvania.

•Emmitt, a Bernese mountain dog owned by Debbie Laviolette of Holland.

•Blue, a Weimaraner owned by Lindsay Harwood of Washington Township.

•Nick, a dog owned by Karen Hawkins of West Toledo.

•Suri Samantha and Princess Asia, English bulldogs owned by Tina Wasserman of Genoa.

Voters in the Pet Idol contest have the option of making a donation to support Planned Pethood, Inc. and The Blade s Newspaper in Education program, which encourages literacy and good citizenship to area students through free educational materials, services, and classroom newspapers.

The contest has raised over $19,000, according to Debby Geyer, Newspaper in Education coordinator for The Blade. That s much more than last year s total, which was over $9,000.

[The contest] has gotten much bigger, much more popular than last year, Geyer said. People seem to really be enjoying it.

In addition to The Blade and Channel 13, the Toledo Area Metroparks Metrobarks membership program is a sponsor of the contest and Planned Pethood is a partner.