"Hooters for Neuters" Flier Triggers Howls of Protest
Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times
June 27, 2006, 10:10 PM PDT
The head of Los Angeles Animal Services bowed out of a fund-raiser for his department today after a sexually-charged flier touting the "Hooters for Neuters" event was criticized by other city officials.
Animal Services Director Ed Boks said the department would not accept donations raised from the July 13 "Charity Benefit Bikini Contest" at a Hollywood nightclub.
"It certainly was not my intention to offend anyone," Boks said in a statement released late this afternoon. "I have reconsidered Animal Services' role as beneficiary ... and decided we will not be accepting any donations from this event."
Boks' announcement was an about-face from interview earlier in the day, when he said the event would go on as planned.
A representative of the Hooters restaurant chain, which was sponsoring the event, could not be reached for comment late this afternoon.
Although the fund-raiser was not a city-sponsored event, a promotional flier was posted on the Animal Services Web site.
Several city officials said they were offended because the original flier showed a bikini-clad woman, but a later version showed a dog wearing a T-shirt that says "Hooters for Neuters."
Funds raised were to be directed to the spay and neuter program at the city's six animal shelters.
"This is a classic example of a learning experience for someone who is new to the city of Los Angeles," said City Controller Laura Chick, the first woman elected to a citywide office in Los Angeles.
"I am pleased that we have kept our well-deserved reputation as a city that respects, honors and empowers women and opposes anything that does not," she said.
Chick said she called Boks this morning to offer some "very strong, friendly advice" about the event.
"I told him that he should take all that stuff off his Web site and immediately remove any connection of the department to the event," Chick said. "I told him that one of my priorities is to empower women, and this goes against everything I've been trying to achieve ... It's using women as sexual objects."
Boks said the owners of Hooters -- a chain known for its buxom, scantily clad waitresses -- approached him about the fund-raiser a month ago. Budweiser designed the ads without consulting the Animal Services Department, he said.
"The money from this event will save the lives of many animals," Boks said earlier today. "When somebody steps up and says they want to help your agency raise money, your inclination is to say `yes.' But we probably won't be involved in any future bikini contests."
The charity event was meant to attract men, who are less likely to spay or neuter their pets than women, according to Animal Services officials familiar with the project, who asked not to be named.
Boks, who previously oversaw animal shelter operations in New York and Maricopa County, Ariz, was hired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa earlier this year to replaced Guerdon Stuckey, who was fired because of high euthanasia rates at city shelters.
Villaraigosa's office could not be reached for immediate comment.
Boks hopes to implement a "no-kill" policy within five years. But that means more will people need to sterilize their pets so that unwanted animals are not abandoned, he said.
The department has been criticized for lacking creativity in telling pet owners to sterilize their animals, but this method "crosses the line," Councilwoman Jan Perry said.
"I was surprised and amazed with the photograph on the flier, and I don't think it projects a good image for the city of Los Angeles," she said. "I hope that all our departments now learn to be more circumspect in the future."
City Council President Eric Garcetti said he wasn't pleased that the charity event was scheduled to be held at The Highlands in Hollywood -- which is located within his 13 District in the Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex.
"We want to make sure that dogs are adopted and fixed in the city, but we also need to be respectful of all human beings," Garcetti said. "This is an event being held in this city, in my district, but I don't think it's necessarily something the city should be involved in."
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Animal activist Judy Cairns, of San Pedro, said that she could live with the bikini contest on the condition that city officials — namely the men — also show some skin.
"I want to see Mayor Villaraigosa's legs," Cairns said.
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What happened to everybody? Is it an Omen? a sign ? Is they in the Ocean hiding from an exploding Nova ? Or are they just boring well grounded kind folks with lives?
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