It was a dog and pony show at Buzzards Play Productions Friday night, literally.

The local performing arts venue played host to Wareham Community TV's "Applause for a Cause," a three-hour live entertainment show/telethon that benefits a local cause or nonprofit. This year's beneficiary was Peace for Animals, a Wareham-based nonprofit that saves abused and neglected animals. The event raised $1,200 for Peace for Animals.

The event featured live entertainment from a dozen local acts and was broadcast on WCTV and Warehamtv.org. The venue was a real-life animal house as many members of the audience brought their dogs along for the show. There was even a guest appearance by two miniature mules from Peace for Animals. The group was chosen from a pool of causes nominated by WCTV members.

"I was really amazed [when we were chosen]," said Peace for Animals Director Kendra Bond. "I'm so thankful. This was a sign we had the community support and it was time to expand."

Bond said this was something of a kickoff event for Peace for Animals, an organization that grew out of Peace for Ponies, where Bond saves pregnant miniature horses from abuse and neglect and provide them with foster homes until they can find permanent homes. Bond said in the last three years, they have saved 11 ponies and 25 other animals, such as dogs, rabbits and birds.

"The money goes right to the horses," she said. "It costs a lot. We usually get them out of really bad places."

Bond said many of the horses are saved from meat buyers auctions. The last two horses she rescued were from Kentucky, which costs hundreds of dollars to transport and then care for. Bond has six foster farms on the Cape that help her care for and find homes for the horses.

Friday's event, the third of its kind for WCTV, featured a dozen performers ranging from musical acts to dancers and comedians. One pair of entertainers who took the cause to heart were Amy Marie and Paul Constas of the Amy and Paul Project. They wrote a song specifically for the occasion.

Marie, who has ridden horses all her life and works with several rescue horses at a farm in Orleans, sang "Who Rescued Who" to two miniature mules from the organization, live in the theatre. The two mules, "Molly the Mule" and "Bella" -- who Bond described as the mascot of Peace for Animals -- were a hit with the crowd.

"It's a huge cause very dear to my heart," Marie said.

Bond said she will soon be opening up a store at Not Your Average Yard Sale on Cranberry Highway in mid-April, where people can buy animal equipment and supplies that benefit the cause.

For more information on Peace for Animals, visit http://www.earthlodge.org/ or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PeaceforPonies.