Jersey City's Liberty Humane Shelter is clawing its way to the top in national contest for a $1 million shelter makeover.

The shelter is currently ranked second in an online contest run by ZooToo, a social networking Web site geared toward pet lovers. Users get points for uploading content and then transfer the points to a shelter of their choosing.

Humane officials say the money is sorely needed.

"This is an old department of public works building," says Liberty Humane Society's Allison Sillence. "You can see the ceiling and floor need repair. But what they say they really need is space because there are more animals here than ever before."

The extra scratch could also help deal with the shelter's population explosion, which has been partially blamed on the economy.

"Animal control is bringing in more animals from foreclosures," says shelter director Janet Russell. "We call them lockouts. They find animals and bring them in. We're also finding people surrendering more animals."

The top 20 shelters will become semi-finalists. ZooToo and its advisors will then tour those shelters and narrow the list to 10, which will be voted on by the public.

For more on the shelter, go to channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.