PETA Wants Ad Space on Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Car

No. 88 Could Help the Millions of Dogs and Cats Across the U.S. Who End Up in Animal Shelters Every Year, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2013

Contact:
Wendy Wegner 202-483-7382

Charlotte, N.C. -- As Dale Earnhardt Jr. enters the 2013 season with a surprising shortage of sponsors, PETA hopes NASCAR's most popular driver will use some of the empty ad space on No. 88 to help PETA spread a lifesaving message: "Always Spay and Neuter." As the group explains in its letter to Earnhardt, 6 to 8 million animals enter animal shelters in the U.S. every year—including thousands in Earnhardt's home state of North Carolina, where PETA works to counter this flood of homeless animals by offering thousands of low- to no-cost sterilization surgeries every year—and half of them must be euthanized for lack of good homes. The solution is simple: Get your dogs and cats "fixed."

"PETA knows that Dale cares about animals, and we'd love to have his help in fighting the animal-overpopulation crisis in North Carolina and across the U.S.," says PETA President (and longtime racing fan) Ingrid E. Newkirk. "A spay-and-neuter message on No. 88 could inspire millions of NASCAR fans to take the simple but lifesaving step of 'fixing' their dogs and cats."

In North Carolina, PETA's Community Animal Project rescues animals directly; supplies food, doghouses, and straw bedding to neglected animals; and offers low- to no-cost veterinary services for families who cannot afford to have their animals spayed or neutered. In the last 10 years, PETA's mobile veterinary clinics have performed—speaking of No. 88—nearly 88,000 sterilization surgeries.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.