Some 77,242 pounds of pet food — weightwise, the equivalent of the space shuttle's external fuel tank — have been donated to the Best Friends Animal Society during its recently concluded "Four Legged Food Drive."

For the past three months, Best Friends Animal Society volunteers across the country have been gathering tons of pet food to help families who are struggling financially to continue feeding their furry friends.

Volunteers spent the summer organizing and executing community food drives to bring in donations of bags and cans of unopened and unexpired pet food. In most cities the collected food was turned over to food pantries for distribution to families.

States hit the hardest by the recession have, in some cases, donated the most food. Nevada, Arizona and Florida, ravaged by the economic downturn, brought in three of the top four largest food totals out of the 15 participating locations. Only Salt Lake City brought in more.

Ellen Gilmore, campaign specialist for Best Friends' national First Home Forever (foreverhome.bestfriends.org/) campaign, explains the urgency of the food drive:

"With or without the downturn in the economy, every community has a homeless pet problem," she says. "In the past year however, the number of homeless pets because of abandonment and relinquishment to animal shelters has increased due to the economy, foreclosures and unemployment. Our goal was to collect as much pet food as possible to stock local food pantries so local families can keep the pets they love."

Best Friends Animal Society is a nonprofit, membership organization building no-kill programs and partnerships that will bring about a day when there are no more homeless pets. The society's leading initiatives in animal care and community programs are coordinated from its Kanab headquarters, the country's largest no-kill sanctuary.

Although the official Best Friends' Four Legged Food Drive is completed for this year, volunteers seeking to organize a future food drive to help pets and people in their community can download a Best Friends Animal Society action kit at network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/foreverhome/media/p/141287.aspx