Celebrities Highlight the Plight of Chained ‘Backyard Dogs’ in PETA PSA

Tom Hardy, Casey Affleck, and Priyanka Chopra Lend Their Voices to Video Spot Asking Virginians to Support Senate Bill 1025

For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

As extreme cold grips Virginia, PETA is running a public service announcement that stars Tom Hardy, Casey Affleck, and Priyanka Chopra and ends with a plea to support Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr.’s Senate Bill (S.B.) 1025, which would prohibit keeping dogs chained outside during certain weather conditions. In the video, the actors give voice to the plight of lonely and neglected “backyard dogs” like those who are featured in the real-life footage recorded near the Sam Simon Center—PETA’s Norfolk, Virginia, headquarters—where the group’s fieldworkers serve as a 24/7 resource for animals in need by providing them with free shelter, straw bedding, food and water, veterinary care, and other necessities.

The video spot will air several times over the next week on local TV channels. It begins with a shot of a chained dog sitting alone in the snow as Hardy asks, “When you first got me, did you know that you were going to chain me up and leave me outside?” It goes on to show footage of other shivering, hungry, and sad dogs forced to live outside with no protection from the elements, and it rallies viewers to urge their representatives to vote in favor of S.B. 1025.

Every year, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—receives thousands of complaints about people who leave dogs outside in the cold. Dogs and other animals can become dehydrated when water sources freeze, and they can suffer and die from frostbite and exposure. PETA advises anyone concerned about an animal’s welfare to alert local law-enforcement agencies or PETA’s first responders immediately.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.