Cold Dog Ad Blitz Hits Local Malls After Dog’s Death

PETA Ads Urge Windy City Shoppers Never to Chain Up Animals Outdoors

For Immediate Release:
March 18, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

As part of PETA’s nationwide campaign to encourage people not to leave animals outdoors in cold weather—and because a dog reportedly froze to death in Glendale Heights last year after being left outdoors overnight in freezing temperatures—the group has hit four nearby malls with anti-chaining ads featuring rap icon Eve.

The ads are located at Algonquin Commons in Algonquin, Golf Mill Shopping Center in Niles, North Riverside Park Mall in North Riverside, and Yorktown Center in Lombard.

“The number of animals who freeze to death each winter on a chain or in a barren doghouse is tragic, and these deaths are utterly preventable,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA’s ads urge people to take dogs indoors, where they’re safe and warm, and not to abandon them outdoors to fend for themselves through Illinois’ bitter winters.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, which is a supremacist worldview. Animals left outdoors in the cold can suffer from frostbite and exposure, become dehydrated when water sources ice over, and die. Already this winter, there have been at least 27 cold weather–related companion animal deaths (last year, there were 50)—and these are just the ones that have been reported. Most aren’t. Anyone who sees animals left outside without shelter from the elements should note their location and alert authorities immediately.

PETA previously erected billboards following the deaths of dogs in Maryland, Missouri, and Ohio. The group’s other efforts to protect dogs from cold weather include more celebrity campaigns, radio PSAs, and efforts to push for anti-chaining legislation across the country.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.