HONESDALE, PA — Dessin Animal Shelter announced it will be the recipient of a $2,000 prize because of winning a contest called the Shelter Showdown. Dessin was automatically entered into a contest called the “Shelter Showdown” via the organization PAL (Pets Add Life), which had partnered with Petfinder, an online resource where Dessin lists all of the animals they have available for adoption.

The shelter began campaigning at the beginning of the month and asking for supporters to vote for them in this online contest. They had a shot at monetary prizes of $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000. Unfortunately, at some point in the contest the PAL database was compromised by hackers, and they chose to end the contest early. The organization took a tally of the votes prior to the system being hacked. PAL took the top 25 organizations with the most votes and decided to split the $50,000 equally among them. Dessin Animal Shelter was among the top 25.

The $2,000 that was won from the contest will go toward continuing to help animals in need.