PETA Offers to Shovel Snow in Return for Ad Placement in Duluth

Group Offers to Clear Sidewalk to Help Chained Dogs

For Immediate Release:
February 10, 2010

Contact:
Kristina Addington 757-622-7382

Duluth, Minn. -- This afternoon, PETA sent a letter to Duluth Mayor Don Ness offering to spare a city worker's shoulders and shovel the sidewalks outside City Hall after the next snowstorm in exchange for permission to stencil an advertisement on the sidewalk reading, "Chained Dog? A Chilling Tail." Each winter, PETA reminds people who live in cold climates that although dogs have fur, they remain susceptible to frostbite and exposure when they are chained up outside and area temperatures plunge. PETA is also hoping that the stencils catch the eye of council members and inspire them to ban the chaining of dogs, as legislators in many forward-thinking towns and cities across the U.S. have already done.

"Backyard dogs often endure multiple adverse conditions besides temperature extremes, including vulnerability to attack, lack of veterinary care, and especially loneliness," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "We urge Duluth residents to bring dogs inside--not just when it snows but year-round."

Click here to see the ad. For more information, please visit PETA's blog.

PETA's letter to Duluth Mayor Don Ness follows.

February 10, 2010

The Honorable Don Ness
Mayor of Duluth

Dear Mayor Ness,

I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters. Duluth has one of the highest snowfall rates in the country, but unlike many other towns and cities across the nation, it does not yet have an ordinance banning the inherently cruel practice of chaining dogs, even in severe weather. With that in mind, we'd like to offer to clear the sidewalks in front of and around City Hall during your next major snow storm, in exchange for permission to stencil our temporary "Chained Dog? A Chilling Tail" ad on them once they are cleared. (Please see the attached stencil design and mock-up.)

For these highly social "pack" animals, little could be worse than life on the end of a chain. Deprived of anything remotely natural to them, left to suffer sweltering days and frigid nights, chained dogs often go mad from lack of exercise, boredom, and loneliness. They are in constant danger of being forgotten, becoming entangled, hanging themselves, and being attacked by other animals or cruel passersby. They are truly helpless, and they know it. Often, all they have is a tiny patch of land, and they must defecate in the same space that they eat and sleep. Whenever they go to greet someone or check out something new, chained dogs are snapped back at the neck.

The results of this cruel practice can be deadly. A 1994 study partly authored by two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention physicians found that "[b]iting dogs were significantly more likely... to be chained..." According to the study, chained dogs are 2.8 times more likely to attack than dogs who are not tethered. Chaining turns otherwise friendly dogs into ticking time bombs. Since 2008, at least 56 Americans have been attacked, some fatally, by chained dogs. Children are especially at risk.

Our ad would encourage Duluth residents to unchain their dogs and help to keep all of Duluth’s residents--human and canine--safe during the cold weather by keeping snow off the sidewalks and dogs off chains and in warm houses. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President