Written by Michelle Sherrow
It was one of those stories that was so appalling that people had to share it. A PETA supporter learned from someone at her workplace about a couple who had moved out of their house and left their St. Bernard there alone, caged in a crate 24 hours a day. She called us immediately.
After tracking down the owners, we learned that they were going once a day to give the dog food and water but were forcing him to spend his life alone in the crate, where he also had to relieve himself. We pressured the local police department and animal control to talk to the couple and convince them to surrender the dog. Thankfully, they agreed.
The dog was finally free, but the stress of confinement had left him with psychological scars. Like many dogs who are crated for an extended period of time, he had become aggressive and developed other behavioral problems. As it would have been dangerous to put him up for adoption, he was peacefully euthanized.
Had he not been deprived of socialization, exercise, affection, environmental stimulation, and everything else that was important to him, this dog might have been adoptable. You can help by encouraging the dog guardians in your life to let their dogs do what social pack animals do best: spend their time surrounded by family, not stuck in a crate or on a chain.
Her left thigh was split wide open, exposing a festering wound the size of a baseball. The stray cat had suffered for months while the infected wound worsened, before a PETA supporter spotted her and contacted us for help.
Knowing that the cat was likely in immense pain, we quickly got local officials to set up a trap and also enlisted several dedicated volunteers to set up and monitor traps and search around the clock for the elusive cat. It took four days and no small amount of effort, but a savvy rescuer finally caught the scared, hurting animal and rushed her to a veterinarian.
Seeing how severe the cat's injuries were, the vet recommended euthanasia, and she was freed from her suffering.
From talking to other people in the area, PETA caseworkers surmised that some had seen the suffering cat but never did anything to help. Animals pay the price when we count on "other people" to help them. When you see an animal in need, please take immediate action. Call animal control or the police, and if both are unresponsive, call PETA for help.
Written by Jeff Mackey
In Tucson, Arizona, a dog, Pina, who had been hit by a car, was forced to drag herself around her neighborhood for three weeks, while residents turned away from her obvious misery. Finally, after one kind person called for help when Pina struggled up to her front door, PETA located the dog's guardian. A PETA caseworker was contacted and arranged for Pina to be examined by a veterinarian, who determined that the dog was suffering from severe injuries, and her guardian agreed to have her euthanized to spare her further anguish.
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Pina's prolonged suffering could have been prevented if those who saw her struggles had taken action immediately. Being a good neighbor shouldn't stop with humans—please never ignore an animal in need of help.
It's a common occurrence at PETA: We received an e-mail from a woman in Illinois who knew that her 18-year-old cat was suffering and needed to be euthanized, but she was unable to afford euthanasia at her veterinarian's office. So she asked if PETA could help cover the cost.
The cat's weight had dropped to an alarming 3 pounds. She had begun to stumble and fall when she tried to walk, and she cried often. Her guardian knew that ending the animal's agony was the right thing to do, and so did we, so PETA quickly arranged for the cat to be euthanized.
Dan Zen|cc by 2.0 Don't let fear of your own pain cause a dear old friend to suffer
Saying "Goodbye" to an animal family member is one of the hardest things we will ever have to face. But after they have devoted their lives to us, we owe it to them not to make them suffer just because we can't bring ourselves to say "Goodbye."
If you know of an animal at the end of his or her life who is suffering because his or her guardian doesn't want to say "Goodbye" or cannot afford the veterinary bill for euthanasia, contact PETA for help.
The guardian of a seriously ill Pekingese called PETA. Her dog was clearly in terrible distress—he wasn't eating or drinking, was panting heavily, and had great difficulty breathing. The diagnostics and treatment proposed by the veterinarian would have been costly and, more importantly, extensive. What should she do? Scrounge up the money for the procedures and put her beloved dog through them? She couldn't imagine making the decision to "let him go."
In these situations, where veterinary intervention is likely to lengthen the animal's misery, a painless and dignified release from suffering is the best and kindest course of action, despite our own anguish at the coming loss. Although this dog's guardian was distraught, she made the brave decision to spare him further torment.
Although a reluctance to say "Goodbye" to a cherished animal companion is normal and genuine, it is profoundly unfair—and often unlawful—to let him or her endure a protracted, miserable death because we can't bear to let go. That grieving time will come, now or later, but adding to the sum total of suffering does not help. Despite what proponents of so-called "no-kill" shelters or those who profit from the abuse of animals say, there is such a thing as a fate worse than a painless, peaceful death, which is why euthanasia can be the reasonable and compassionate option.
An Arkansas woman who was feeding a colony of 15 feral cats was deeply distraught when she found the bodies of seven of the cats, all riddled with gunshots. One cat who had been shot in the eyes had apparently wandered around blindly before dying.
Desperate to save the remaining cats—five adults and three kittens—from suffering the same fate, the woman contacted PETA for help. We talked her through how to trap the cats, and since there was no animal shelter in the area, we found a veterinarian who was willing to assess their condition. The caller brought in the adult cats, and the vet determined that because they were so feral, it was unkind to confine them, try to tame them, and look for someone willing to take any of them when so many socialized cats are already going without homes. The vet recommended peaceful euthanasia.
The woman took the kittens into her home, carefully socialized them, and found families who adopted them—terrific news.
Feral cats face innumerable dangers, including attacks by other animals, being hit by cars, contracting deadly contagious diseases, exposure to extreme temperatures, starvation, and cruel people who poison, shoot, and otherwise torture them. The best way to help feral cats is to trap them and, if you cannot provide a good home for them without traumatizing them, take them to a reputable animal shelter.
A front group for the meat, puppy mill, tobacco, and alcohol industries as well as other industries that use and abuse animals is desperately trying to thwart animal protection efforts by publicly attacking PETA. The group got its comeuppance on Jane Velez-Mitchell's show Monday night, when the HLN host invited PETA Senior Vice President of Communications Lisa Lange to talk about the deceptive group's underhanded attacks. Here is some of the interview:
If the meat, dairy, puppy mill, and entertainment industries and their shills were genuinely concerned about the plight of homeless dogs and cats, they would actually do something about it, as PETA is, by conducting massive spay-and-neuter initiatives and encouraging people to adopt animals from animal shelters instead of buying them from businesses that churn out new puppies and kittens to add to the mix.
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.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post
PETA and other Virginia animal shelters have just submitted to the state the numbers of animals they received, found wonderful homes for, reunited with guardians, had to euthanize, or were able to release back into nature in 2011. Because numbers can't begin to tell each animal's story, let me describe one of those animals: Pepper.
PETA's emergency fieldworkers are on call 24/7 and leap into action even when that means getting up in the middle of the night to drive long distances in response to calls about suffering, abandoned, neglected, and abused animals. Since we refer healthy, highly adoptable animals to traditional, well-trafficked animal shelters, the animals we focus on with our hands-on work are the most abused, neglected, and underserved, usually the "unadoptables."
For months, PETA tried to engage local law-enforcement officials to take action on a monstrous woman who kept a terribly neglected and miserable dog named Pepper, who needed urgent veterinary treatment, penned in her backyard. When PETA found her, Pepper had been languishing in the filthy backyard cage for years and had slowly deteriorated, yet the woman—a nursing assistant—couldn't be bothered to provide her dog with basic vet care and dignity.
Finally, PETA obtained custody of Pepper and whisked her to a veterinarian, who determined that Pepper was suffering from dehydration, "severe emaciation" (the veterinarian's exact words), a severe eye infection that caused both of Pepper's eyes to ooze discharge, a chronic hematoma (blood pocket) on her left ear, chronic dermatitis, a raging flea infestation (more than 500 live fleas were picked off her body), extremely worn-down teeth from biting at her own infected skin, toenails on all four feet so curled inward that they were embedded into the skin (causing an infection), a large mammary tumor, and cancer. For Pepper, euthanasia was a sweet release from the painful existence that she'd endured for so long. PETA's fieldworker stayed with Pepper as she peacefully slipped away from this world.
PETA filed cruelty charges against Angela Williams, Pepper's owner. This month, there was a small measure of justice meted out for Pepper when a judge found Williams guilty of cruelty to animals. The judge said that the woman's treatment of Pepper was as inexcusable as it would be to know that one of her patients had had bed sores for months and do nothing about it.
How we wish that Pepper's heart-wrenching case was unusual! PETA's caseworkers take in scores of animals who are in equally miserable, and even worse, condition almost every single day. For many of these suffering souls, the only kind thing to do is to hold them, make a fuss about them, tell them that they are loved, and let them slip away.
If a dog is kept penned or chained in your neighborhood, please take action. Urge the homeowner to allow the dog indoors and make him or her a part of the family. Offer to take the lonely dog for walks. Report abuse and neglect. Get the dog fixed, vaccinated, and dewormed. Look for other medical needs. Together, let's help wipe out the cruel practice of tossing dogs in the backyard and forgetting about them. Please push for anti-chaining legislation in your city or state.
Written by PETA
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I was working as a humane officer, driving from one neglect case investigation to another, when I saw him: a large dog, limping pitifully down the middle of a busy, four-lane street, with traffic whizzing past him. I stopped my car and got out. The dog stumbled into my looped slip leash, and when I scratched his ear, he sighed and leaned into me.
I carried this thin, dirty fellow to my car. Some dogs stiffen in fear, but this big guy just melted into my arms. He clearly had been a handsome boy at one point, but his eyes and nose were now crusted as a result of an upper respiratory infection, his coat was filthy and matted, and he had an odor that surely bothered him as much as it did me.
I rushed the dog to the animal shelter, where the veterinarian determined that he was elderly, with enough health issues to merit charges for failure to provide veterinary care if the person who neglected him could ever be found. Euthanasia was undoubtedly a mercy for this poor old soul. A technician gave him an injection, and he left this world.
To this day, I find myself asking, "Who denied care to this sweet dog in his senior years? Hadn't neighbors noticed his condition? Why didn't anyone stop to save an old dog who was walking down the middle of a busy street?"
I've met hundreds of animals who have been saved from suffering and danger because a kind person refused to just look the other way and keep going. Please, for the sake of animals like this dog, report neglect and abuse immediately, and if you see an animal in danger, always stop to help.
Written by Scott VanValkenburg, the PETA Foundation's director of membership communications & special projects
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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