South Florida’s most-important contribution to American culture is limited to the innovations found in men’s magazines and nightclubs, or so the cliche goes. But what if our region’s legion of pinups united to use their considerable powers for good? Would evil in the world stand a chance?
For now, they are starting small: On Thursday at Whiskey Blue at the W Fort Lauderdale, a rare union of women seen in the pages of Playboy, Maxim and FHM will take place to raise money to promote dog adoption and eliminate the twin scourges of puppy mills and shelter euthanasia. The Humane Society of the United States estimates 4 million dogs and cats will be put down this year.
The party is called Mutts n Models after a dog-adoption advocacy campaign founded by Oscar Rabeiro, a men’s magazine photographer from Davie who decided to use his connections with beautiful women to help his other great passion, the one with four legs. Rabeiro began by offering nonprofit South Florida rescue organizations free photography to better showcase their dogs, and then started asking model friends such as Maxim’s Tami Donaldson of Fort Lauderdale to sit with their pets for fundraising posters.
The Mutts n Models event, which also will welcome well-behaved, leashed dogs to one of South Florida’s most-glamorous nightlife locales, will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. For a $20 minimum donation, you get two free cocktails, the opportunity to mingle with the models and have your photo taken with them, and your pet, at a photo booth Rabeiro will set up. Proceeds benefit local dog-rescue organizations Animals Rock and Helping Homeless Animals.
“Many people are not fully aware of the sad reality of what goes on at shelters across the country and the rate of euthanasia,” Rabeiro says. “We are trying to let people understand the importance of spaying and neutering … and that every dog bought in a pet store means killing one in a shelter. The only option is adoption.”
Rabeiro calls Mutts n Models “a coalition of compassionate models showing they care.” Among those scheduled to be at the W are Playboy pinups Kari Nautique and Michelle Janetis, FHM model Alli MacKenzie (wife of PGA golfer Will MacKenzie), Maxim cover girl Jaqueline Fischer of Deerfield Beach, and Brittney Palmer of Davie and Maxim. Rabeiro says he expects the list to continue growing in the days leading up to the event.
“They’ve been calling, emailing, texting me, saying, ‘I want to be part of this event,’ ” Rabeiro says. “A lot of these girls have their own dog-rescue programs that they support.”
Women on a mission
That would include model, actress and international Playboy cover girl Michelle Baker, who is hosting the party along with Hardy Hill, marketing and bar manager for Whiskey Blue and the Living Room at the W Fort Lauderdale (and onetime reality TV star on “Big Brother” and “Miami Social”).
Baker, who lives in New Port Richey, got involved with rescue dogs a couple of months ago when a Facebook photo of a dog she wanted to adopt led her to the new $3.5 million Pasco County Animal Services shelter. To find her dog, she was directed to “the C building,” where, Baker says, dogs deemed unadoptable were held.
“It’s just a sad, terrible place … no windows, no AC, dogs laying in their own urine and feces,” recalls Baker, who describes Pasco as a “high-kill shelter.”
Baker found her dog, a Cairn terrier mix she took home and named Coconut Jones, as well as a mission. She got involved with the no-kill Humane Society of Northeast Florida and began targeting dogs on the Pasco County shelter’s euthanasia list for adoption.
She’s lost count of how many dogs she’s helped remove for the Humane Society, but figures it’s more than 100. On July 24 Baker posted on Facebook: “No dogs will be euthanized tomorrow at PCAS!!! :):):) We pulled every single last one. They are all at the vet!”
Baker, who trades sexy, autographed photos of herself for donations to the Humane Society, says she and models she networks with “are committed to using any little bit of fame we have to bring awareness of pet overpopulation and what the solutions are.” The Michelle Baker Animal Rescue Fund is another beneficiary of Thursday’s party.
Brittney Palmer is not to be confused with the UFC Octagon ring girl of the same name who has appeared in Playboy. The Chaminade-Madonna High School graduate is a swimsuit model who has appeared in Maxim and lives in Davie with her NHL-playing boyfriend (she declines to name him) and two dogs.
She got her 3-year-old English bulldog, Jax, from a breed-specific rescue shelter. Her newest dog, a Bernese mountain dog named Dexter, was a gift from her boyfriend, who knew he’d be in “big trouble” if he brought her a dog that wasn’t adopted. “We don’t buy puppies in my house,” she says.
Dexter will accompany Palmer to the W Thursday night. “He’s a big teddy bear, as cute as can be, and he’s proof that you can find a cute dog at the shelter,” she says. “You’re giving that dog a second chance at life.”
Attractive qualities
Hardy Hill is forbidden from having a dog at his Fort Lauderdale beach building, but you can sense his affection for them, especially when he describes the “crushing” memory of losing his 16-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback to canine leukemia.
Hill got involved with Mutts n Models after seeing Rabeiro’s campaign on Facebook and offering his swanky bar and patio at the W for a fundraiser. He says Whiskey Blue owners Gerber Bars (founded by Rande Gerber, husband of Cindy Crawford) were “100 percent behind” hosting a dog-friendly party.
Hill hopes people can look past the superficial cliches to appreciate the effort the modeling industry is making for dogs.
“Some people have money. Some have looks. Some have position,” Hill says. “They are taking whatever they have available and using it to try to make a difference. It’s an extraordinarily attractive quality in a person, no matter what they look like.”
Mutts n Models
When: 7-10 p.m. Thursday
Where: Whiskey Blue at the W Fort Lauderdale hotel, 401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd.
Cost: $20 minimum donation
Contact: Muttsnmodels.org
