Broadway Barks! 2009 to Hit Shubert Alley July 11

Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters will host the annual Broadway Barks! benefit on July 11, launching the “star-studded dog and cat adopt-a-thon”’s eleventh year matching New York City shelter animals with loving families. The event will take place at Shubert Alley and feature a book signing of Peters’ New York Times bestselling childrens book, Broadway Barks.

Broadway Barks kicks will run from 3:30 to 6:30pm. Celebrity presentation of pets from citywide shelters will take place starting at 5:30. A list of presenters will be released at a later date.

“According to recent statistics, we learned that we are making a difference,” Moore, a longtime animal advocate, said in a statement. “In 2002, the rate of euthanasia among shelter animals was at 74% of total intake. We are proud that as a result of our efforts, in 2008, the number of animals killed in NYC shelters has dropped to 39% of total intake. That means nearly 15,000 fewer animals have been euthanized in our city's shelters compared to 2003.”

Last year’s tenth anniversary event attracted an audience of more than 7,000 theater fans, pet owners and animal lovers, bringing homeless dogs and cats from more than twenty-six shelters to Broadway to find their forever homes; over 125 adoptions were made. Broadway Barks! was founded by Moore and Peters in 1998.