Safe sex for pets? A night for the party animals to run wild

The animal welfare alliance STOP! certainly had a lot to celebrate at its third annual Safe Sex For Pets bash at the Fringe Club.

'Our Desexed in the City campaign last autumn educated pet owners and desexed over 130 cats and dogs with the help of over 20 participating animal clinics and hospitals,' vice-chairwoman Tina Chu, a 'mother' to two rescued dogs, said. 'Also, thanks to the lobbying efforts by our community, the government has finally agreed to a trial TNR [trap, neuter and release] programme starting next year, which is a welcome move away from the current kill programme that over 25,000 strays are subjected to annually.'

The party planners for STOP! (formerly known as the Hong Kong No Kill City Forum) lined up a night of free cocktails, fun and fund-raising, including a luxury swimwear catwalk show and a date auction of four eligible bachelors and bachelorettes. 'I'll just say this once, so I can get back to drinking: thank you everyone for all your hard work this past year,' chairwoman Brooke Babington said in her welcome. 'Please have a great time and give as much as you can tonight.'

The date auction was particularly rowdy, with side bids for the bachelors to remove clothing onstage threatening to turn it into a striptease. One bachelor was offered HK$10,000 to take everything off - but unlike Peta, the folks at STOP! aren't quite ready to resort to full nudity in their campaign and event strategy.