PETsMART Charities Launches Nation's Largest Homeless Pet Transport Program

Rescue Waggin' Relocates Adoptable Pets Across State Lines to Connect Them With Adoptive Families

PETsMART (NASDAQ: PETM) Charities today launched Rescue Waggin', a national program that will save homeless dogs and puppies destined for euthanasia by transporting them from states with overburdened shelters to states where demand for adoptive pets is high.

The only program of its kind on this scale, Rescue Waggin' targets regions of the country most in need, beginning in the Midwest, where more than 3,000 homeless pets are euthanized each day and more than a million annually. Homeless pets are transported safely and comfortably in a specially designed Rescue Waggin' from overcrowded shelters in Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan, where potential adoptive families await.

In its first year alone, the program will help find homes for more than 4,000 dogs and puppies in the Midwest, another 7,000 when it launches on the West Coast later this spring, and thousands more when it travels to the East Coast in 2006. The PETsMART Charities Rescue Waggin' program will help save the lives of tens of thousands of unwanted and abandoned pets each year when fully operational in addition to tackling the problem at its source by funding corresponding spay/neuter programs.

"We've seen just how successful pet transport programs can be through the grants we provide to similar programs much smaller in scale," said Susana Della Maddalena, PETsMART Charities executive director. "PETsMART Charities is in the unique position of owning the expertise, animal welfare partnerships and, thanks to the many PETsMART associates who donate money to us, the funds to bring a large scale, organized and sophisticated program like the Rescue Waggin' to life."

Rescue Waggin' program features include specially designed pet vehicles to comfortably, safely and humanely transport animals, drivers trained in pet care and animal first aid and professionally established transport guidelines to ensure the highest level of quality care.

To learn more or to make a donation to Rescue Waggin' or PETsMART Charities, visit www.petsmartcharities.org or call 1-800-423-PETS.

About PETsMART Charities

To improve the quality of life for all companion animals, PETsMART Charities (www.petsmartcharities.org) creates and supports programs that save the lives of homeless pets, raise awareness of companion animal welfare issues, and promote healthy relationships between people and pets. Since 1994, PETsMART Charities, an independent 501(c)3 organization, has donated more than $38 million to animal welfare programs and, through its in-store adoption programs, has saved the lives of more than 2 million pets.

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