Daniel Suárez Races to a Dog’s Rescue in New PETA Video
For Immediate Release:
August 17, 2021
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382
Trailblazing NASCAR driver Daniel Suárez—the first international driver to win a major NASCAR National Series championship—is speeding into a new PETA video and stomping on the brakes just in time to stop someone from making a potentially deadly mistake: Leaving a dog in a car on a summer day.
“You probably don’t realize that your dog can die of a heatstroke in the time that it takes you to make a quick pit stop,” Suárez tells a woman in the video. “Whatever errand you have to make is not as important as your dog’s life, right?” Of course, she agrees!
Temperatures inside a parked car can reach the triple digits in just minutes—and since dogs can’t sweat and primarily cool themselves by panting, they’re at greater risk of suffering from heatstroke than humans are. Already this year, 28 dogs have been reported dead from heat-related causes. (The actual figure is no doubt far higher, as most heat-related companion animal deaths go unreported.)
Anyone who sees a dog in a parked car should take immediate action: Write down the vehicle’s color, make, model, and license plate number and rush to have the store page the owner. If they can’t be found, call 911—and if authorities are unresponsive, do what it takes to save a life. PETA offers an emergency window-breaking hammer for intervening in life-or-death situations. As Suárez says, “Be your dogs’ champion!”
Suárez, who won the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, currently drives the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Trackhouse Racing Team in the NASCAR Cup Series and the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado for Young’s Motorsports in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He joins a growing list of racers and other celebrities—including Formula 1’s Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari Challenge driver James Weiland, and NASCAR’s Leilani Münter—who are all on PETA’s team when it comes to promoting kindness to animals.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
