Grieving Pet Owners Get Comfort From Playboy Magazine Helps Fund WSU Program To Help Animal Owners In Mourning
If you’re grieving over the loss of a beloved pet, Playboy feels your pain.
The Playboy Foundation - whose logo is the magazine’s trademark bunny superimposed on an American flag - recently donated $1,965 to Washington State University to pay for a printing of “Pet Loss Packets” for pet owners in mourning.
The peculiar partnership raised eyebrows at both WSU and Playboy Foundation headquarters in Chicago.
“This is an unusual one for us,” admitted Cleo Wilson, executive director of the Playboy Foundation. “They wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Leo Bustad, dean emeritus of WSU’s veterinary school, joked Friday that he hoped it would be his picture in the packet’s centerfold. And staffers down the hall have asked for one of Playboy’s trademark “bunny” tails.
The packets are part of WSU’s 4-year-old People-Pet Partnership, a veterinary college program to foster the bonds between people and animals. When pets die, the program counsels despondent owners - some nearly suicidal - for free.
The program operates on a shoestring budget of $41,000 a year, half of it donated by Bustad. The rest comes from small private donations.
When WSU’s Office of Grants and Research compiled a list of possible donors this spring, research assistant Daun Martin noticed that Playboy will do free printing. She sent in a request asking the foundation to pay for 1,500 30-page packets.
A sex magazine may not be the most politically correct funding source, she said Friday, but the pet program’s strapped for cash.
Initially reluctant, Playboy finally agreed.
“We generally tend to print things for community-based organizations, but they were quite persistent, so I relented,” said Wilson.
People-Pet Partnership assistant director Charlene Douglas said she doubts Playboy will donate more, but the People-Pet Partnership is broadening its search for funds.
“We’ll have a competition now,” she joked, “and see whether Penthouse can fund something.”
, DataTimes