The Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office Animal Control Section is set to hold its 19th annual ?Be Kind to Animals? poster contest for elementary school students in unincorporated Jefferson County.

Animal Control sponsors the competition to help promote National Be Kind to Animals Week, slated this year for May 4-10.  Elementary school children are encouraged to incorporate their ideas of what it means to be kind to animals into a poster design.

Posters must be completed by Friday, April 4, when Animal Control staff will collect them from each participating school.  A panel of judges will choose a first-, second- and third-place winner from each class that enters the contest.  The panel will include animal control officers and representatives from the Table Mountain Animal Center in Golden.  Ribbons will be awarded to each winner, and all winning posters will be displayed in various Jefferson County government buildings during Be Kind to Animals Week.

Schools wishing to participate in the contest are asked to notify Sharon Wright, Animal Control supervisor at the Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office, at 303-271-5083, no later than Friday, March 21.