‘Deadbeat Dad’ Billboard Calls for Neutering in Time for Father’s Day
PETA’s Virginia Beach Boulevard Billboard Highlights Free and Low-Cost ‘Fixes’ for Area Residents’ Dogs and Cats Ahead of Breeding Season
For Immediate Release:
June 17, 2015
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
An unconventional Father’s Day message is greeting drivers in the 5900 block of Virginia Beach Boulevard, where PETA has placed a catchy billboard with the words “Don’t Let Your Dog Be a Deadbeat Dad. Get Him Neutered Today” over an image of a hungry litter of puppies nursing a lone mother dog. As PETA points out, the best way to end the animal-overpopulation crisis is through prevention. Six to 8 million dogs and cats end up in animal shelters every year, and about half of them must be euthanized simply because there aren’t enough good homes to go around, resulting in shelters closing their doors and turning homeless animals away.
The billboard can be seen at 5901 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., facing east. A photo is available here.
“By having dogs and cats ‘fixed,’ people can prevent them from becoming deadbeat dads and single moms and, best of all, put a dent in companion-animal homelessness,” says PETA Senior Director Colleen O’Brien. “PETA is calling on kind people everywhere to prevent unwanted births and ensure that no puppy or kitten is born into a world that’s bursting at the seams with unwanted ones.”
More than 223,000 dogs and cats were admitted to animal shelters across Virginia in 2014 alone, and more than 50,000 of them had to be euthanized for lack of a good home. Every year, countless other animals are abandoned to fend for themselves outdoors, where they may endure sweltering heat and bone-chilling cold, get hit by cars, or suffer from other abuses. PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—offers free and low-cost spay/neuter services year-round in an effort to combat the animal-overpopulation crisis. Sterilized animals also live longer and happier lives, are less likely to develop cancer of the reproductive system, and, in the case of neutered males, are less likely to roam or fight.
Appointments with PETA’s mobile clinics can be made by calling PETA at 757-622-7382, option 3, or online at PETA.org/SpayNeuterAppt.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
