It’s a dog’s life, raising cash for animal welfare

Burton
Mail chief reporter David Powles transformed himself into a 6ft,
13-stone dalmatian as part of a charity mascot race for the paper’s
Stop Cruelty to Animals wristband campaign.

The race, which took
part in Burton Albion’s new Pirelli Stadium at half time during their
match against Stevenage, saw ‘Burty Newshound’ go up against Albion
mascot Billy Brewer and Elvis Gresley – mascot for the other local
team, Gresley Rovers – in front of a crowd of more than 1,000.

He
finished in third place but only because winner Billy Brewer had tied
his and Elvis Gresley’s legs together, leading to front page pictures
of the mascots tumbling over each other (above).

Burty and his Mail colleagues raised £500 for the campaign.

Dalmatian spotted wristbands are being sold across the paper’s catchment area with profits going to a local RSPCA branch.

Editor-in-chief
Paul Hazeldine said: “I always thought David was barking, but agreeing
to don the suit and become Burty Newshound proves the point. I also
wish he could produce his copy as quickly as he can run around a soccer
pitch.

“Seriously, David did a cracking job in helping the paper
to raise cash for our unique wristband campaign. Readers have taken the
campaign to their hearts and we have had to reorder wristbands on two
occasions because we were selling out fast.”