duncan228
09-26-2008, 08:09 PM
OwnUp SA recruits Spurs star to promote pet adoption (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/29817319.html)
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News
Sean Elliott is used to the spotlight. He just hopes fame doesn't go to Mojo's head.
The former Spurs star and his 8-year-old akita — a large dog originally bred in Japan — are the latest local celebrities recruited by OwnUp SA to help promote pet adoptions and responsible ownership.
They'll appear on a billboard whose design was unveiled Friday at City Hall along with one featuring County Judge Nelson Wolff and his granddaughter's dog, a Maltese named Max with a U.S. flag kerchief around his neck.
“I'm not sure I want those guys upstaging me,” Mayor Phil Hardberger joked during the event, referring to existing billboards featuring him and his cat, Captain Aubrey, which will now be replaced in many locations.
Considered one of Hardberger's pet projects, OwnUp SA has served since March as the publicity arm of a larger effort to make San Antonio a “no-kill community” by 2012. To achieve that goal, local animal advocates seem to agree, the rate of adoptions must pick up and spaying or neutering has to be a priority.
The push was inspired in part by an Express-News series that ran in 2004 describing how the city's Animal Care Services gassed about 50,000 animals each year. San Antonio had the highest kill rate in the country, Hardberger reminded the crowd Friday.
“We were No. 1, but that's not where you want to be No. 1,” he said. “(It was) a very, very bad situation and something we sure weren't proud of.”
Since then, he said, the kill rate has reduced dramatically — to about 30,000 animals per year — but still leaves much to be desired. That's where the billboard campaign comes in.
It made sense to recruit Wolff, Hardberger said, given the cooperation between the city and county. As for Elliott, a Spurs legend whose “Memorial Day Miracle” shot in 1999 is still talked about nearly a decade later, the loan of his celebrity to the campaign was a no-brainer.
Besides Mojo, who was obtained from a breeder, the athlete-turned-announcer owns two cats rescued from his front yard, and Gigi, a mutt adopted from the Humane Society. In the early 1990s, he owned a pet store specializing in reptiles, and he appeared two years ago in a public service announcement on responsible pet ownership that aired on PBS.
“Pretty much I've had everything — rabbits, ferrets, dogs, cats, obviously fish, lizards, snakes,” he said of his collections over the years, adding that he's also an occasional dog-sitter for friends. “I like the furry animals — the dogs and cat — best. When you see dogs and cats sleeping together in the same doggie bed, that can throw you for a loop but it makes for good entertainment.”
Elliott said he was aghast when the city's high kill rate made news.
“There's really no excuse,” he said. “It's not the animals' fault. The onus is on us. We've got to rise up.”
His only concern about the OwnUp SA campaign, he later joked, is that motorists might have trouble distinguishing him from Mojo, who shares his large stature. As for the pooch's newfound notoriety, Elliott said stardom shouldn't change him.
“He's a good dog,” he said with a laugh. “I won't let it get to his head.”
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News
Sean Elliott is used to the spotlight. He just hopes fame doesn't go to Mojo's head.
The former Spurs star and his 8-year-old akita — a large dog originally bred in Japan — are the latest local celebrities recruited by OwnUp SA to help promote pet adoptions and responsible ownership.
They'll appear on a billboard whose design was unveiled Friday at City Hall along with one featuring County Judge Nelson Wolff and his granddaughter's dog, a Maltese named Max with a U.S. flag kerchief around his neck.
“I'm not sure I want those guys upstaging me,” Mayor Phil Hardberger joked during the event, referring to existing billboards featuring him and his cat, Captain Aubrey, which will now be replaced in many locations.
Considered one of Hardberger's pet projects, OwnUp SA has served since March as the publicity arm of a larger effort to make San Antonio a “no-kill community” by 2012. To achieve that goal, local animal advocates seem to agree, the rate of adoptions must pick up and spaying or neutering has to be a priority.
The push was inspired in part by an Express-News series that ran in 2004 describing how the city's Animal Care Services gassed about 50,000 animals each year. San Antonio had the highest kill rate in the country, Hardberger reminded the crowd Friday.
“We were No. 1, but that's not where you want to be No. 1,” he said. “(It was) a very, very bad situation and something we sure weren't proud of.”
Since then, he said, the kill rate has reduced dramatically — to about 30,000 animals per year — but still leaves much to be desired. That's where the billboard campaign comes in.
It made sense to recruit Wolff, Hardberger said, given the cooperation between the city and county. As for Elliott, a Spurs legend whose “Memorial Day Miracle” shot in 1999 is still talked about nearly a decade later, the loan of his celebrity to the campaign was a no-brainer.
Besides Mojo, who was obtained from a breeder, the athlete-turned-announcer owns two cats rescued from his front yard, and Gigi, a mutt adopted from the Humane Society. In the early 1990s, he owned a pet store specializing in reptiles, and he appeared two years ago in a public service announcement on responsible pet ownership that aired on PBS.
“Pretty much I've had everything — rabbits, ferrets, dogs, cats, obviously fish, lizards, snakes,” he said of his collections over the years, adding that he's also an occasional dog-sitter for friends. “I like the furry animals — the dogs and cat — best. When you see dogs and cats sleeping together in the same doggie bed, that can throw you for a loop but it makes for good entertainment.”
Elliott said he was aghast when the city's high kill rate made news.
“There's really no excuse,” he said. “It's not the animals' fault. The onus is on us. We've got to rise up.”
His only concern about the OwnUp SA campaign, he later joked, is that motorists might have trouble distinguishing him from Mojo, who shares his large stature. As for the pooch's newfound notoriety, Elliott said stardom shouldn't change him.
“He's a good dog,” he said with a laugh. “I won't let it get to his head.”