Press Release

ASPCA Announces Winners of the 2008 Humane Awards
Guide Cat and Cadaver Dog Among Winners to be Recognized at Upcoming Event

NEW YORK, September 16, 2008—Eight extraordinary animals and people, including a guide cat that served as a dog’s best friend and a cadaver dog that provided assistance in Iraq will be honored for their heroic deeds at this year’s ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) Humane Awards Luncheon in New York City.

The ASPCA’s annual Humane Awards Luncheon, sponsored by The Hartville Group, will be held on Thursday, October 30th from noon to 2 p.m. at New York City’s historic Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center. The ceremony recognizes animals that have demonstrated extraordinary efforts on behalf of humans as well as individuals who have worked on behalf of animal welfare, or engaged in animal heroism during the past year.

“The Humane Awards Luncheon honors those who have gone above and beyond for animal welfare and animal heroes who have dedicated their lives to help others,” said ASPCA President & CEO Ed Sayres. “It’s a wonderful event that celebrates the important role companion animals play in our lives.”

Following a nationwide call to the public for nominations in February, an ASPCA-appointed committee reviewed hundreds of entries and selected winners in eight specific categories.

The 2008 ASPCA Humane Award winners are:

ASPCA Presidential Service Award
There’s no mission that’s impossible for Stache, a four-year-old black Lab. Stache and his handler Jim McCans have been involved in nearly two dozen searches, including a trip to Mississippi to find a Hurricane Katrina victim, and solving a missing persons case in Philadelphia. Within the last year, Stache and Jim were asked to provide assistance in Iraq, where they faced their biggest challenge: to search for missing American service men and women. Stache and Jim found nine separate recoveries, but not before a close brush with death when an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) exploded in their path in Owesat, Iraq. The blast left Stache with temporary hearing loss, but he has since recovered and returned to the states. Stache hasn’t forgotten the soldiers that befriended him during his stint in Iraq; he recently visited two soldiers who were severely injured from the same blast at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Stache is Deep Run Farm bred and born. We are so proud of Stache and Jim. Thanks from us for all your good work.