For Immediate Release:
February 8, 2021
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
Hopewell, Va. – Because overnight temperatures are expected to drop below freezing this week, PETA is taking straw bedding to the Dollar Tree parking lot in Hopewell, where residents can pick up one bag of straw per dog on Wednesday. The giveaway will help Virginians comply with a state law that—in addition to prohibiting leaving dogs chained outside when the temperature is 32 degrees or below—requires that all dogs kept outdoors be provided with insulating straw or other bedding and that doghouses have a windbreak to help protect animals from the cold.
When: Wednesday, February 10, 12 noon
Where: Dollar Tree, 308 Cavalier Sq., Hopewell
“Being left outdoors in the cold causes terrible misery and can even be a death sentence for a dog,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “While PETA urges everyone to keep dogs indoors with the rest of the family, we’re offering a small measure of help that will make a huge difference in dogs’ lives.”
Animals who are left outside in the cold can suffer from frostbite and exposure, become dehydrated when water sources ice over, and even die. When kept tethered, dogs often become tangled and die because they’re unable to reach food, water, or shelter. All dogs kept isolated outdoors—on chains or in pens—are denied the companionship that’s essential to these highly social pack animals.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
