Northampton County Commissioners to Consider Chaining Ordinance to Combat Epidemic of Dead and Dying Dogs

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Northampton County, N.C. –

PETA has been invited to the March 2 Northampton County Board of Commissioners meeting to resume discussions around a desperately needed ordinance related to continuous chaining, wellness, and standards of care for dogs kept tethered or penned outdoors 24/7. PETA began sounding the alarm about the rampant cruelty and neglect of dogs in the county nearly a decade ago and is offering a grant that would help cover the cost of an additional animal control officer—one dedicated to enforcing the proposed new ordinance—for two years.

Where: Commissioners’ Room, JW Faison Building

9495 NC Highway 205, Jackson

When: Monday, March 2, 6 p.m.

Every day, PETA fieldworkers find dogs chained or penned without access to food, water, or shelter, and in recent years, they have discovered numerous dead and dying dogs in backyards across North Carolina. During the recent frigid temperatures and snowstorms, PETA visited hundreds of dogs in Northampton County who were chained or penned outside with frozen water and little to no bedding, including a dog named Daisy, who was found shivering and lethargic, guarding the remains of her deceased companion inside a dilapidated doghouse. Daisy was so starved that in an attempt to survive she’d been eating the dead dog with whom she had shared the small pen.

*PETA has visited hundreds of dogs in Northampton County this winter who were chained or penned outside. Credit: PETA*

PETA Director of Local Affairs Rachel Bellis will speak at the meeting to urge the implementation of clear, county-wide, enforceable standards of humane animal care and a ban on keeping dogs chained outside unattended. Several Northampton County localities—including Gaston, Rich Square, and Woodland—already have bans on keeping dogs chained unattended.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.