Will You Be an Angel for ‘Outdoor’ Dogs and PETA’s Fieldworkers? 

It was one of the coldest days of the year in Windsor, North Carolina, with temperatures in the teens and wind gusts up to 55 mph. PETA fieldworkers had arrived to bring Liora – whose whole world was measured by the length of her chain – straw for the doghouse they had given her on a long-ago visit and to refill the water in her bucket that had frozen solid. But as they approached, something else stopped them. A foul odor hung in the air. The source was almost unimaginable. 

The collar Liora had worn since puppyhood had never been loosened! As she grew, it had cut so deeply into her neck that her skin had grown around it – what reeked was her painful, massive, infected wound. 

Fieldworkers contacted local authorities immediately, secured custody of Liora, and rushed her to an emergency veterinary clinic, where doctors surgically removed the embedded collar. It was the last winter she would ever spend outside. 

Now adopted by a family who loves her, Liora romps happily about as she chooses with her canine pal Ruthie (who was also rescued by PETA), then rockets back through the door to the home every dog deserves and she now calls her own. 

Guardian Angels Wear Work Boots 

Thousands of dogs and other animals depend on PETA fieldworkers and those who sponsor them. Through bitter cold snaps, freezing rain, snowstorms, and chilling winds, PETA’s angels travel rural roads in Virginia and North Carolina to reach dogs condemned to live day and night at the end of a chain or confined to a barren pen. 

They drag heavy, insulated wooden doghouses through muddy yards and pack them with straw that the dogs can burrow into. They break the ice and refill water bowls, deliver food and medications, transport animals for veterinary care and spay/neuter surgeries, and answer emergency calls at all hours of the day and night. And when an animal is suffering and recovery isn’t possible, they provide a peaceful, pain-free release. 

For some dogs, a PETA fieldworker may be the only person who has ever cared. The only one who touches them gently and speaks to them with kindness. The only one who never stops advocating for them, pleading with guardians to bring dogs indoors, to give them exercise, to feed them properly, not to yell at them, or to allow PETA to try to find them loving homes. When the answer is no, they don’t give up. 

A ‘Yes’ Years in the Making 

Ahead of extreme weather, PETA staff call and text families with animals they keep outdoors, urging them to please bring them inside before extra-dangerous conditions arrive. For Buttercup, one such call from a fieldworker finally made all the difference. 

PETA fieldworkers had started visiting the lonely dog two years earlier, when they found her chained beside a shed. Visit after visit, they urged her guardians to let her live indoors, but nothing changed. Then, with a winter storm approaching, they called and pleaded once more that she could not be left out in the weather ahead. This time, the answer was yes – her family brought her inside, and that’s where she’s stayed. 

Buttercup has embraced her new life. On recent visits, fieldworkers have found her warm, comfortable, and content indoors, now truly a member of the family. The call that changed Buttercup’s life took minutes. Building the trust that made it possible took years. 

Will You Be PETA’s Fieldworkers’ Wings This Winter? 

Doghouses, bales of straw, food, medications, toys, and tangle-free tie-outs need to be ready when temperatures plunge and a chained dog will shake all night as the pain of freezing weather penetrates her bones or, as happens, she freezes to death. Your support helps make sure fieldworkers can load up vital supplies and head out to help animals desperately in need. You may never travel those rural roads or meet the dogs who need us. But you can be there with every doghouse a fieldworker delivers, every armful of straw they carry, every meal and dose of medicine they provide, and every toy they share with a lonely dog. When a PETA fieldworker shows up, your compassion can show up with them.