An aging Missouri animal shelter has won the second annual Zootoo Shelter Makeover contest sponsored by Zootoo.com

The Central Missouri Humane Society in Columbia, Mo., won an online vote by "a wide margin," says Zootoo founder Richard Thompson, and will receive up to $1 million in goods, services, and/or cash.

"This will help us make an enormous difference in the quality of life of the animals we care for," says Patty Forister, executive director of CMHS, which took in 7,500 animals for re-homing last year.

The CMHS facility was built in 1978, "when about half as many animals were coming in as is the case today," Forister says. The shelter is too small, there are ventilation and flooding problems, and the win, she says, means many goals — from creating a cat area away from the dogs to reduce feline stress to expanding space for dogs and creating an isolation area so illnesses aren't spread — will be tackled.

The second and third highest vote-getters were Butte Humane Society in Chico, Calif., and the Jefferson County SPCA in Watertown, N.Y., which get $50,000 and $25,000 respectively.

Nearly 2,000 shelters entered the competition, earning "points" when supporters signed up for Zootoo, posted pictures or reviewed products. The top 20 point-earners were visited by Zootoo representatives, who chose 10 for the national voting.

A dispute between last year's winner, Stray Rescue of St. Louis, and Zootoo, made public earlier this month, was resolved last week with both sides blaming a "misunderstanding."

Wealthy entrepreneur Thompson created the contest, he says, because "much of the population doesn't fully understand or appreciate the issues shelter employees and volunteers go through to care for pets on a daily basis," and the competition "increases shelter visibility and community support."