Deaths of dalmatians predicted

Lee Scrivner

Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

With significantly more than 101 dalmatians' lives at stake, a Las Vegas-based animal rescuer joined other activists in asking Walt Disney Studios to help prevent a predicted disaster in the breed.

Activists fear that many people will again purchase, then abandon Dalmatians after the November release of "102 Dalmatians," as they did following the 1996 release of Disney's "101 Dalmatians."

"After the first movie, everybody went out to buy dalmatians as if they were toys, without considering the realities of pet ownership," Ann Herrington, president of the Las Vegas-based Media Partners for Pets, said Monday.

When the fad of the movie wore off, animal shelters nationally received 15 to 762 percent more abandoned dalmatians, Herrington said. "The majority of these were euthanized."

At a press conference in front of Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif., Monday, Herrington and activists from breeders' organizations and dalmatian rescue groups asked that Disney help sponsor an educational campaign for "102 Dalmatians" to show the fatal consequences of purchasing dalmatians irresponsibly.

Walt Disney Studios spokeswoman Andrea Marozas was unavailable for comment on the press conference.

Information on the issue will be the focus of an upcoming episode of "Animal Avenue," produced by Herrington and Media Partners for Pets. The weekly show airs 7:30 p.m. Thursdays on Cox cable channel 61 or UHF channel 63.