On April 30, 2010, in North Hollywood, California, the Postal Service™ will issue a 44–cent  Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet special stamp in ten designs.   With these 10 stamp designs, the U.S. Postal Service hopes to raise awareness of the need to adopt shelter pets.  Ellen DeGeneres and Halo Pet Foods will be donating one million meals to shelter animals as part of the campaign.  (I guess the Post Office now does product placement too–I’m surprised the Halo logo isn’t on the stamp.)

But it’s all for a good cause and the stampstotherescue.com website has a link to PetFinder and information about adopting a dog or cat.

The pets depicted on the stamps were photographed by Sally Andersen-Bruce near her home in New Milford, Connecticut. All had been homeless at one time; all but one had been adopted when they were photographed. The stamps were  designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC.

This campaign continues the Postal Service’s 50+ year tradition of raising awareness of serious social issues with special commemorative stamps.   From the stampstotherescue.com website:

We want more Americans to know about the millions of shelter pets that need good homes. Nearly half of the animals that enter animal shelters are euthanized. Many of these cats and dogs would have made a wonderful pet…if only given the chance.

You can make a difference. Adopt a pet, volunteer at a shelter, or just get the word out by buying these stamps.