Citywide ‘Bench Blitz’ From PETA Reminds Angelenos That Cats Are Always in Danger Outdoors
For Immediate Release:
July 18, 2024
Contact:
Maddy Missett 202-483-7382
As scores of homeless cats struggle to survive on the perilous streets of Los Angeles, PETA is displaying appeals on 100 benches across the city urging guardians not to add to the crisis and endanger their own cats by letting them roam outside. The messaging blitz comes as Los Angeles Animal Services faces increasing pressure over its disastrously failed pursuit of the meaningless “no-kill” label, which has resulted in shelters turning away countless animals and instructing people to abandon cats outdoors to fend for themselves.
“PETA’s cruelty case files are filled with incidents involving cats allowed to roam outside unsupervised who were victimized in horrific ways, which shows why Los Angeles Animal Services’ policy of cat abandonment is totally indefensible,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “Cats with homes indoors are the lucky ones—and PETA encourages all guardians to give their feline family members a happy life safe from speeding cars, predators, and the many other dangers of the outdoors.”
When allowed to roam outdoors, cats—an invasive species in the U.S.—decimate native wildlife populations, including birds, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and baby opossums. Cats left to fend for themselves outside are also at risk of ingesting poison, contracting contagious and even fatal diseases, being hit by cars, or facing abuse by cruel people. In California, recent media reports include a cat who was repeatedly struck against a sidewalk and killed by a man in Lawndale, a cat who was shot and stabbed to death by two men in Pomona, and a cat who was shot with a crossbow and left in a dumpster by a man in Oxnard.
Toys, climbing structures and scratching posts, cat TV, and other enrichment allow cats to enjoy stimulating lives indoors. PETA offers a catio-building guide as well as a “cat guardian’s bible” written by PETA President Ingrid Newkirk and available for purchase here.
PETA’s appeal to cat guardians follows the group’s vigorous campaign asserting that cats and dogs are suffering in Los Angeles because of Mayor Karen Bass’ mismanagement of one of the largest animal shelter systems in the country, which often refuses to accept stray animals and instructs residents to dump them on the street.
The lifesaving message is mounted on public benches in the neighborhoods of Atwater Village, East Los Angeles, Lincoln Heights, and Los Feliz.
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 Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
