Help Dogs Like Blackie: PETA’s Video Plea for Chained Dogs to Hit Raleigh Airwaves
For Immediate Release:
July 15, 2024
Contact:
Rachel Hershkovitz 202-483-7382
As temperatures soar, PETA is putting a name and a face to the crisis dogs experience across North Carolina with a new video featuring Blackie, one of the thousands of dogs the group’s fieldworkers have found perpetually chained outside through all weather extremes. The 30-second spot—which will air on TV stations in Raleigh and other cities in North Carolina starting today—reveals that 2-year-old Blackie has been tethered outside in a yard strewn with trash and debris for at least a year since PETA’s fieldworkers first spotted him as a puppy and urges viewers to help protect animals like him by advocating for dog-chaining bans in their communities.
“Across North Carolina, countless dogs like Blackie are suffering out of sight, chained like old bicycles and left to languish outside in the blazing summer heat,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA urges everyone to keep animals safe indoors where they belong, report cruelty to animals to their local law-enforcement authorities, and lobby for chaining bans.”
Every year, PETA’s fieldworkers find thousands of neglected, dying, or dead dogs—forgotten, ignored, and without shade, drinkable water, or any other way to cool down (or stay warm in winter). Chained dogs are often deprived of veterinary care, exercise, companionship, or even a kind word—left in isolation on the same few square feet of space day in and day out. PETA’s fieldworkers routinely visit Blackie and do what they can to improve his life—including providing him with a sturdy doghouse to help protect him from the elements—but often find him tangled and without food or water. The only affection he receives comes from fieldworkers during their visits. For Blackie, every day is a struggle to survive, and there’s no way for him to escape these miserable conditions.
Amid high summer temperatures that are particularly dangerous for chained dogs, PETA urges everyone to be on the lookout for dogs in need of assistance, including those who may be experiencing heat-related distress. Witnesses who see an animal without adequate food, water, or shelter should take pictures from public property and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately. If they don’t respond promptly, call PETA.
Beginning today, PETA’s spot will run on WRAL (NBC), WRAZ (FOX), and WNCN (CBS) in Raleigh; WCTI (ABC) and WYDO (FOX) in Greenville; and WLOS (ABC) and WHNS (FOX) in Asheville.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kitsfor people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
