Pet lovers attend festival to reduce animal euthanasia
2/2/04 The Daily Texan
By Tran Pham

Emmy Lou and Alina both have something to grin about: They won the title of Most Look-alike Pair.

While Alina wore a black jacket with a fur-trimmed collar and had brown pigtails, Emmy Lou, half Alina’s height, sat on her hind legs and had black and white spots on her face and a black, thumping tail.

They won a competition that awarded pets and owners who most resembled one another. Alina Adonyi, a sixth-grade teacher at Martin Middle School in East Austin, and Emmy Lou attended a rally organized by the Spay Austin Campaign on Saturday.

“The Spay-Neuter Awareness Month festival was a great way to raise consciousness and awareness in the community about animal overpopulation and how we can all help,” Adonyi said. Her students created 10,000 chain links to represent the number of dogs and cats that have been put to death due to overpopulation, she said.

Cat and dog lovers joined their companions in this furry event organized by Spay Austin, a coalition of various animal service groups, including the Humane Society of Austin and Travis County, and co-sponsored by the City of Austin.

The event featured animal stunts, contests involving pets and their owners, dog trainers and live band performances. Several city council members, including Mayor Will Wynn, attended the festivities.

Pat Valls-Trelles, spokesperson for the Spay Austin Campaign, said the fact that four-out-of-five council members attended the rally showed how much support the campaign had. But it was far from over, she said.

“The campaign doesn’t end here. January is only the kickoff month,” she said.

Valls-Trelles said the campaign’s goal is to generate funding to keep neutering services free or at a low cost, because pet owners need to have their pets neutered.

“People need to be aware that 30 animals die every day,” Valls-Trelles said. “It’s a huge tragedy that people don’t realize, because it’s out of sight and out of mind. ”

Wendy Murphy, a volunteer at Animal Trustees of Austin, said the rally gave volunteers a chance to talk to people about the need to gets their pets neutered.

“This was a great turnout,” Murphy said.

Adonyi sat with her students in front of the stage, her face painted with white-and-black spots like her dog’s. She smiled and watched as her students played with the pets.

This week, the students will display their chain of links over the Congress Avenue Bridge.

“That will cause people to stop and think about doing something for the animals in our community,” Adonyi said.