Supermarket cards aid SPCA

The card collection depicts animals from around the globe. Photo / Chris Gorman

They're small, come in sets of four and are a proven success with the kids.

Countdown is launching its new collection of Super Animals collectable sound cards today. The initiative is to raise funds for the Royal New Zealand SPCA. The card collection depicts animals from around the globe, providing information about different species and, with the purchase of an additional speaker, project sounds from each animal.

Four cards are given out for every $20 spent at Countdown. An album is also available for purchase for $9 with $1 from every album going towards the Shelter Buddy system - an initiative headed by the SPCA.

The Shelter Buddy system is a nationwide advanced animal welfare tracking system, which tracks information about the care of animals, similar to how human patient records are kept at a hospital.

SPCA chief executive Ric Odom said the cards would help raise awareness about animal welfare and provide funding for the shelter system.

"We are about preventing cruelty and improving animal welfare and at the heart of that is raising awareness and providing information about animals, which these cards will do.

"It is a win-win situation for us," he said.

Countdown's general manager of marketing Bridget Lamont said she was confident the cards would be a hit given the previous popularity of similar collectibles.

"Our customers loved the DreamWorks Heroes collectible cards last year, so much so that we sold out of albums.

"We've almost doubled the amount of albums this time as we know they're going to be just as popular."