Kategorie: Animals

The post Ingrid Newkirk: Report Animal Abuse (Version 2) appeared first on PETA.

The post Ingrid Newkirk: Report Animal Abuse (Version 1) appeared first on PETA.

Charlie and Diamond were huddled together, shivering and scared, when PETA fieldworkers found them locked in a wire crate on a porch in Halifax County, North Carolina. The wind chill was 21 degrees. Their owner refused to bring the “odd couple” besties—a Chihuahua mix and a pit bull mix—inside, despite the deadly danger of the freeze, but gave them to PETA when told that leaving them outside is illegal and that the sheriff would have to be called.

After warming up at PETA’s Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters—the Sam Simon Center—the devoted duo were transferred to the Norfolk SPCA, where they’re now in search of a loving home together.

Charlie’s and Diamond’s days of freezing, misery, and fear are gone, and PETA is grateful to the Norfolk SPCA for the opportunity to find them a family who will care for both of them properly.

Their story shows why we must all keep our eyes peeled for dogs suffering and shivering out in the cold and call the authorities or PETA for help.

“If you’re ready to get twice as much gratitude and love from this big and small dog combo, then Charlie and Diamond could be the perfect match for you. We’re looking forward to finding them a new home where they can cuddle up for companionship instead of for survival.”

—Kimberly Sherlaw, Executive Director of the Norfolk SPCA

With more below-freezing temperatures in the forecast—and countless dogs still shivering in yards throughout the region where Charlie and Diamond were rescued—PETA is rushing a new 30-second public service announcement starring New England Patriots linebacker Matt Judon to TV networks in the area. “My dogs are part of my family, and I would never leave my family outside,” Judon says. “So bring your dogs inside and show them the love and respect that they show you.”

Anyone who sees companion animals left outside without shelter from the elements should note their location and alert authorities immediately.

These animals can suffer from frostbite and exposure, become dehydrated when water sources ice over, and die. Cold weather and winter storms lead to multiple deaths, injuries, and rescues each year. (And most incidents aren’t even reported.) While helping animals in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, PETA’s fieldworkers encounter countless dogs—mostly pit bulls like Diamond, whose short hair leaves them especially vulnerable to the cold—tethered with heavy chains, in which they can become entangled and die because they’re unable to reach food, water, or shelter.

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The post Pit Bull and Chihuahua Besties Go From Freezing to Freedom, Thanks to PETA appeared first on PETA.

Dogs are often left out in the cold, such as one mother dog who froze to death in Mahoning County last week, so PETA is rushing its new TV spot to local networks, urging action for dogs who are in danger out there, “forgotten, as if they were invisible.” The 30-second spot ends with this plea: “Please see these dogs and help free them from a life of despair, before it’s too late.”

It’s illegal in Ohio to leave cats and dogs outside without adequate shelter from the elements. PETA urges anyone who sees neglect to report it to local authorities. Witnesses should take pictures from public property and note how long an animal is left without adequate food, water, or shelter.

“This dog’s death is heartbreaking, as are those that aren’t reported, and all serve to remind us that dogs are beings of flesh and blood who suffer greatly in the cold,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “Animals depend on us for everything, from food, water, and shelter to warmth, compassion, and love, so PETA is urging everyone to treat them like family, keep them indoors, and report cruelty right away.”

Cold weather and winter storms lead to multiple deaths, injuries, and near-miss rescues each year, and most incidents aren’t even reported. Dogs left outside 24/7—like those featured in Breaking the Chain, the documentary produced by Oscar winner Anjelica Huston—and “outdoor cats” often go without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care. Their water turns to ice, their food turns to mush if left out in the rain, and these animals are no better equipped to survive freezing temperatures or extreme weather conditions than humans are. They can suffer terribly from frostbite and die of exposure.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on PETA’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post Dog’s Death in Freezing Weather Prompts Urgent New PETA TV Advisory appeared first on PETA.

Please see the following statement from PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo regarding the Official Warning posted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against the University of Utah for its violations of federal animal welfare regulations:

This warning won’t undo the trauma endured by animals, but it shows that the University of Utah shouldn’t be trusted with even one more penny of taxpayer funding for experiments on animals— PETA has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health, calling on the agency to turn off the money spigot to the school. The university’s obscene incompetence and neglect resulted in multiple animal deaths. A dog who suffered from experimentally inflicted heart failure died after he wasn’t properly monitored. A rabbit suffocated to death while under anesthesia after workers neglected to open a valve to permit the animal to breathe. A guinea pig died of an anesthetic overdose after laboratory staff gave the animal 10 times the correct dose. Two marmoset monkeys died of overheating and distress when they were left overnight in their nest box. And three marmosets died after they were used in experimental surgeries but not given adequate veterinary care.

These critical violations, originally documented in inspection reports from 2020 and 2021, were so serious that USDA inspectors referred them to its Investigative and Enforcement Services (IES) arm, which issued the rare warning. Last year, IES issued only 58 official warnings—even though the USDA’s inspection arm filed thousands of inspection reports documenting violations.

The University of Utah must redirect its resources toward modern, non-animal research methods that will actually help humans, and we urge officials there to adopt PETA’s Research Modernization Deal.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The post PETA Files NIH Complaint Against University of Utah After USDA’s Official Warning appeared first on PETA.