Nov. 4—Semifinals for the pet calendar poll open on Monday.
The McAlester News-Capital received nominations and voters decided which pets they wanted to advance in the poll for which should be featured in an upcoming pet calendar.
Twenty-six pets advanced to the semifinals — which will be in-person and mail-in votes to determine which 12 pets will get their own month in the calendar.
“We’re excited for the next round of voting in the pet calendar to see which ones will be in it,” News-Capital Publisher Reina Owens said. “We thank everyone who has nominated their pet, voted for their favorite, and who plans to keep voting in this project.”
The News-Capital started the pet calendar last year as fun way to help the Pittsburg County Animal Shelter.
A portion of the proceeds from this project go toward purchasing needed items for the Pittsburg County Animal Shelter. Newspaper staff loaded up a truck full of food, treats, blankets, beds, toys and more last year that was delivered to the animal shelter.
The News-Capital included every pet submitted before the nomination deadline in the first two rounds of voting this year.
Voters in two rounds of online-only voting on the News-Capital website picked their favorites and which pets they wanted to advance.
Here is a list of the semifinalists and the number of votes each received:
Brownie the dog—64
Saber the dog—54
Bear the rescue dog—33
Sadey the cat—32
Hank the dog—21
Sadie and Fancy the dogs—20
Auggie the dog—17
Lulu the dog—16
Aspen the dog—15
Angel the dog—13
Penny the dog—13
Ranger the dog—7
Orange-gee the chicken—7
Luna the cat—6
Ginger the dog—6
Louie the dog—5
Mabel Blue the dog—4
Petunia the cat—3
Cooper the dog—3
Roxy the dog—2
Hercules the dog—2
Nugget the dog—2
Sergei and Dimitri the dogs—2
Lite the dog—2
Jackson the Lemur—2
Apollo the dog—2
These votes will not be counted in the totals for any future rounds.
Voters will decide which 12 pets will be included in the calendar during the semifinal round Nov. 7-11. The final round of voting will be Nov. 14-18 to determine which of the 12 finalists will be featured on the cover of the pet calendar.
Each of the final two rounds will be in-person and mail-in voting with anyone being able to pay a 25-cent fee per vote for the pet they want featured in the pet calendar.
Anyone can purchase any amount of votes for any of the pets in the final round. Anyone can submit their vote and payment at the News-Capital offices at 500 S. Main St. in McAlester or by mailing it in to P.O. Box 987, McAlester, OK 74502.
Contact Adrian O’Hanlon III at aohanlon@mcalesternews.com
