For Immediate Release:
June 25, 2021
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Yakima, Wash – This week’s scorching temperatures—reaching well into triple digits in Yakima—will put dogs at high risk of heat prostration and death, so PETA is issuing an urgent warning to anyone with a dog. Please be sure to do the following:
- Touch the pavement to ensure that it won’t burn dogs’ foot pads.
- Be alert to a long, curled-up tongue and heavy panting, as dogs cannot sweat as humans can and heat builds up inside their bodies.
- Walk only in the shade or on earth or grass, and never leave animals outdoors in extreme heat or inside vehicles.
This month, PETA fieldworkers discovered the body of a dog who had died after being left chained up in the hot sun, and similar reports nationwide are starting to roll in. Recently, a law-enforcement officer mistakenly left his patrol car with a dog inside it, and the K-9 succumbed to heat prostration and died. Last year, more than 31 dogs were reported dead from heat-related causes. (Figures are far likely higher, as most heat-related deaths go unreported.)
Anyone who leaves animals outside to suffer in severe weather may be prosecuted for cruelty.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
