Written by Michelle Kretzer
Slogging through floodwaters, mud, and debris, PETA's Community Animal Project fieldworkers were out and about during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to respond to calls about animals left outside in some sort of endurance test imposed on them by their owners. Here are just two of them—dogs who are very lucky to be alive after their owners left them chained to trees during the hurricane.
Brownie had to ride out up to 60-mile-per-hour winds and buckets of rain in a toppled-over airline crate. The chain he was on had become wrapped around a tree, and he was surrounded by scattered debris and mud puddles. Brownie's neglectful owners decided that he was too much trouble when asked to take him indoors, so they gave him to PETA's fieldworkers, and we delivered him to our friends at the Virginia Beach SPCA, who offered him a warm, dry, indoor residence right away while they search for a far better family for him.
Tipsy's small, filthy doghouse didn't offer much protection from the hard-driving weather, and when CAP workers found her, she was soaked to the bone. We gave her a roomy new doghouse, moved her to a grassy spot, covered her yard with dry straw, cleaned her food and water bowls, and gave her a much-needed toweling off. We are in talks with her owners, hoping to get them to change their ways and become real guardians now.
As the Eastern Seaboard recovers from Hurricane Sandy, we will undoubtedly hear the stories of animals who, unlike Brownie and Tipsy, were not found in time and lost their lives because their owners couldn't care less about their safety.
Natural disasters aren’t preventable, but the tragic deaths of companion animals during disasters certainly can be. Please sign PETA’s petition urging the governors of each state to ban chaining during extreme weather.
Written by Jeff Mackey
Staffers from its Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters and Washington, D.C., office have endured the impact of Hurricane Sandy's winds and storm surge, but that's not stopping PETA from doing everything in its power to help the animals in the storm's path. Community Animal Project fieldworkers are on call 24/7 and have already been hard at work helping animals left to fend for themselves against the storm and the flooding.
Of course, the best way to protect animals is to prevent them from being put in harm's way in the first place. That's why PETA sent out emergency-preparedness alerts to media across Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, and other at-risk areas before the storm to remind guardians to be ready to allow animal companions to stay indoors and to take them along if forced to evacuate.
Unfortunately, not everyone has heeded this advice, and frightened, vulnerable animals like the dog you see here in Newport News, Virginia, have been left tied up outside to face the storm's onslaught. So PETA has sent urgent requests to the governors of all states likely to be affected by Sandy asking them to protect all their citizens—including the four-legged ones—by issuing immediate "no chaining" orders for their states.
The orders should require that all dogs be allowed to stay indoors and not be left chained outside, where they may drown, freeze, be strangled, or get hit by flying debris in the midst of the hurricane, as happened to Smokey, who died alone outside during Hurricane Irene on the chain that he had been attached to since puppyhood.
No matter what the governors decide, though, if Sandy is headed your way, please allow your dogs and cats to stay indoors with you, be prepared to take them with you if you have to leave, and urge your neighbors to do the same!
Written by PETA
I work in the Human Resources Department at the PETA Foundation, which I love. Knowing that I get to advocate for animals and also take care of my colleagues who advocate for them is rewarding and fulfilling. But I recently spent a day doing something that not many people will experience in their lifetime: riding along with a staffer with PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP), the people who crawl under houses, sludge through storm drains, and face neglectful owners to save animals from suffering.
My day with CAP was eye-opening, to say the least. I knew about the work that CAP does in the areas surrounding our Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters, but seeing it for myself was an experience I will never forget.
In a rural area of North Carolina, we found a terrified dog who was forced to live under a trailer with no food or water. His "owners" ("guardians" are people who actually care for their animals) weren't home, so we did the only things that we could do: We gave him food and water and left a note for his owners. We plan to check on him again soon. In another area, we found two dogs who were covered with ticks and supplied their owner with flea- and tick-control medication and instructions. We talked to a person who had a puppy living outdoors—the pup's littermate had already been fatally hit by a car—and tried to educate him about how to do better for the surviving dog. Stories like these repeated themselves throughout the day as we visited more and more animals in need of help.
All of us can make a difference for animals in our own communities. We could offer to walk chained dogs and give their owners information about housetraining and bringing them indoors. Or we could offer to transport pregnant cats to a low-cost spay-and-neuter clinic. Much like CAP's work, all our small acts together can add up to big improvements in the lives of a lot of animals.
Written by Kim Argobright
A PETA Community Animal Project (CAP) fieldworker spotted a lone pit bull sitting in a trash-strewn patch of dirt behind what appeared to be an abandoned house. A heavy chain was wrapped around his neck, preventing him from reaching even a single blade of grass. He had no food or water, and his dilapidated doghouse had no floor. When the fieldworker offered him a big bowl of water, the dog lapped it up as if it were the first drink he'd had in a very long time.
Knowing she couldn't legally take the dog, whom she was calling "Dusty" because of his dirty surroundings, the fieldworker forced herself to leave—but not before she left plenty of dog food with the neighbor and implored him to continue to feed Dusty and give him water.
A public-records property search yielded the homeowner's name, and when the fieldworker called him, he said that he was having work done on the house and would be moving back in soon. He refused to part with Dusty but let PETA replace the heavy metal chain with a lightweight tie-out, give Dusty a new doghouse, and move him to a grassy area.
While he still isn't living indoors with his family—the kind of life every dog deserves—Dusty is at least more comfortable. When fieldworkers check on him, he has food and water, and his owner has agreed to have him neutered in PETA's mobile clinic.
Their stories rarely make headlines, and in fact, many people aren't even aware of how much suffering PETA fieldworkers spare animals like Dusty every day. But PETA can't do it alone. If there is a Dusty in your neighborhood, please alert animal control. And if officials are unresponsive, please contact PETA for help. We will never turn our back on an animal in need.
Meet Boss. As you can tell, he's one happy dog:
But Boss wasn't always so happy. In fact, here he is just a short while before:
What made the difference? One of PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) fieldworkers noticed Boss during one of her visits to a trailer park in a very impoverished part of North Carolina, where CAP delivers straw and signs up residents for SNIP's spay-and-neuter program.
Boss' owner had moved out and was paying someone to give the dog food and water, but the "caretaker" was simply throwing food over the top of the pen, which hadn't been raked or cleaned in some time. There was no clean or dry place for Boss to sit or stand. Even his Igloo doghouse was full of urine and feces, and his feet were wet, red, and irritated from standing in his own waste.
Determined not to leave him in that miserable condition, the fieldworker who found Boss persuaded the owner's mother to care for the dog and then drove Boss to her house, where he rolled in the grass. "He was so freaking happy," the fieldworker says, "I thought I was going to cry."
Please always be prepared to help animals in need and you may be rewarded with a smile that you'll never forget—like the one on Boss' face!
Over the last couple of days, we've told you about some of the ways that PETA worked in 2011 to end the suffering of animals in its own "backyard"—southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. PETA staffers are in the field every day working with guardians and local authorities, delivering doghouses and straw, providing transport to our clinics for spay/neuter procedures and other veterinary care, and much more.
On Friday, you may have read about many of the animals whose lives and futures were made brighter by PETA's fieldworkers, which is always what we hope for. But since PETA's hands-on work focuses on finding and helping the most abused, neglected, and underserved animals—those whose years of illness, injury, deprivation, exposure, and isolation typically make rehabilitation and adoption into a loving and responsible home impossible—offering love, kindness, and a peaceful release from suffering is sometimes the kindest option possible.
The following are a few of the animals PETA helped in 2011, along with information about how you can help us prevent more animals from suffering from neglect and abuse (warning—graphic images):
An elderly couple called us for a doghouse for their dog, DJ. PETA's fieldworker discovered that DJ was not just terribly unsocialized but also had a chain wrapped directly around his neck that had become deeply embedded into his skin as he grew. DJ's guardians had no idea that this had been happening and were shocked to discover his condition. They surrendered DJ to PETA, and he is no longer suffering.
The girlfriend of the person responsible for two dogs, Trixie and Hitler, contacted PETA because Hitler was already dead on her property and Trixie was severely emaciated. A necropsy later confirmed that Hitler had starved to death—the tip of his own tail was found in his stomach. The vet determined that Trixie was about 20 pounds underweight. The animals' guardian signed a contract agreeing not to acquire any more animals.
PETA took in this cat who was suffering from an open wound over his entire back that was teeming with maggots. A local woman had been feeding stray cats in her yard for months but was totally oblivious to this cat's condition.
When little Pokey's family moved away, they simply left this ill puppy in the yard to die. Despite days of intensive treatment and being showered with love, Pokey's condition deteriorated, and her veterinarian said that the most humane option was to give her an immediate release from her suffering.
Turning away cats and dogs like these just to avoid having to euthanize them doesn't help unwanted, suffering, and dying animals. If PETA, like many animal shelters today, cared more about how its statistics look to the public than the well-being of the individual animals who so desperately need help, animals like Pokey would be left to suffer and die in agony instead of being gently relieved of their misery in the soothing embrace of probably the first and only people ever to show them any kindness.
PETA has renewed our call for the National Governors Association to use its influence to end animal homelessness by helping pass mandatory spay and neuter legislation across the country in 2012, requiring dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit, the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services. Without such laws, animal homelessness and neglect will continue—causing animals like DJ, Trixie, the homeless cat, and Pokey to continue to suffer.
Please join this effort by asking your governor to support strong spay and neuter legislation.
Say "Hi" to Tyson, one of the newest recipients of a custom-built doghouse from PETA, along with lots of straw bedding to help keep out the cold. As you can see from the "before" picture below, he desperately needed it. All four (!) of Tyson's previous (flimsy) "shelters" had broken. But now he has a sturdy, custom-built doghouse for cold, wet winter nights—and since it's built to last, he can count on it for years to come. Tyson's family agreed to have him neutered, so PETA will take care of that too.
Tyson before
Tyson after
Of course, we'd much prefer that everyone allow their dogs indoors—and PETA's Community Animal Project caseworkers have persuaded many animals' guardians to do just that. But since some people refuse—and since many localities still don't prohibit chaining dogs—PETA builds and delivers hundreds of rugged doghouses each year to provide dogs with protection from snow, wind, and rain. In the winter, PETA also gives away free bales of straw for cold dogs forced to live outdoors in the Hampton Roads area in Virginia.
You can change a life like Tyson's. If you know of any "outdoor dogs," try to persuade their guardians to allow them indoors. Encourage your city or county legislators to ban chaining. And if you can, sponsor a doghouse so that one more dog will have a refuge from the cold.
While heading out to pick up and transport animals belonging to low-income residents for spay-and-neuter surgeries at one of PETA's mobile clinics, a PETA Community Animal Project fieldworker spotted a truck driver attempting to drag something out of a ditch on the side of a busy highway. Our staffer pulled over to make sure that the "something" was not an animal, but to her horror, it was just that—a horribly injured hound dog who was soaking wet, shivering, covered with lacerations, and unable to stand or walk.
The tracking collar around the dog's neck helped explain how he had wound up wandering along a highway: He had been used for hunting. Hunters rarely treat their dogs any better than the animals they take pleasure in killing. Countless hunting dogs are hit by cars when they cross highways while tracking prey or when they become lost during hunts. Dogs are frequently (and illegally) abandoned at the end of the season or when the dog "won't hunt." Many hounds spend most of their lives chained up or confined to pens in all weather extremes, and they are often trained with shock collars, which can cause burns and cardiac fibrillation and turn dogs into confused, fearful, nervous wrecks.
As for this poor, suffering hound, PETA's fieldworker gently loaded him into her van and quickly rushed him to an animal shelter. The dog was taken to a veterinary clinic right away, where it was determined that he had suffered a broken back and that euthanasia was the most humane option for him.
Hunting hurts not only the animals targeted by this cruel blood sport but also the dogs hunters use as their unwitting pawns. It's time to stop hunting for trouble.
Imagine having your ears crudely hacked off and then being tossed outside to recover from your wounds as best you could without so much as an aspirin to dull the pain. That appears to be what happened to a pit bull puppy in Hampton, Virginia, and PETA is now desperately trying to find out who inflicted the wounds in order to bring the perpetrator to justice.
After a concerned passerby spotted the injured puppy in a yard without any shelter, her ears crusty, bloody, and obviously infected, the person contacted PETA, and we in turn contacted animal control. But so far, all we have been able to determine is that the puppy was apparently purchased from a local breeder, who we believe inflicted the injuries. The puppy's owner was ordered to provide her with vet care but allegedly refuses to divulge the breeder's name, so we are offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever hacked off the puppy's ears.
Home "crop jobs," in which scissors, knives, and other sharp instruments are used to hack off pit bulls' ears to make them look "tough," are often associated with dogfighting. Such procedures are illegal both because they violate anti-cruelty laws and because they could be considered practicing veterinary medicine without a license. Even if performed by a veterinarian, ear-cropping and tail-docking are purely cosmetic (read: unnecessary) and cause extreme pain to the victims.
Cases like this one are not isolated incidents. Animal abusers are usually repeat offenders, and studies show that they often "progress" to committing violence against humans. If you live in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area and have any information about this crime, please call PETA at 757-962-8370.
Written by Joe Taksel
When little Pokey's family moved away, they simply left the malnourished, close-to-death puppy in the yard like an old sofa—except that sofas don't get scared, go hungry or thirsty, or suffer and die when you turn your back on them, never to return.
Although Pokey was about 7 months old, she was as small as a 3-month-old pup, her growth stunted from bad food, inadequate rations, and illness. She was covered in mange so severe that she also suffered from a serious secondary infection, and her skin was painful, cracked, bleeding, and oozing pus. She was also loaded with intestinal parasites, ticks and fleas ravaged her body and sucked her blood, and she was suffering from anemia, her gums white as chalk.
Thankfully, a compassionate area resident reported Pokey to PETA. We immediately responded, snatched Pokey up, rushed her to the vet, and got her started on treatment for her multitude of health issues. In order to be taken outside, Pokey had to be wrapped in a blanket to avoid hurting her super-tender skin. The only way to show her any affection without hurting her was to kiss the tip of her nose.
Despite days of intensive treatment and being showered with love, Pokey's condition deteriorated, and the veterinarian said that the most humane option was to free the puppy from her suffering. One of her rescuers said: "I held the little girl until her last breath. She was very strong, but not strong enough to deal with the hand life dealt her."
PETA is pressing for criminal abandonment and cruelty-to-animals charges against Pokey's owners. If you hear of an animal in need, please don't let him or her suffer another minute. Call your local animal control agency or humane society, and if that doesn't work, contact PETA for help.
Written by Michelle Sherrow
If you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to an animal, please click here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
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