Dog InterRUFFS Detroit Motorists With Message: Let Us Inside!

For Immediate Release:
February 22, 2022

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

With chilly temperatures in the forecast for the weeks ahead, who left the dogs out can be a matter for law enforcement, but PETA has rushed a code blue alert to Detroit, courtesy of a sky-high message featuring a pup beside a bicycle to emphasize that chains belong on objects, never on living, feeling beings.

PETA responds to thousands of heartbreaking reports every year of dogs left chained up outside, struggling to survive in storms and freezing temperatures, sometimes with tethers so tangled that they are unable to reach shelter—if they even have any worth reaching. Water sources freeze in winter, snow turns food into inedible mush, and the ground gets muddy and icy. This leaves dogs vulnerable to frostbite, hypothermia, and dehydration. Cold weather and winter storms lead to multiple deaths, injuries, and near-miss rescues each year, and most incidents aren’t even reported.

“Dogs are social pack animals who need and deserve companionship, respect, and a warm place with their human, indoors,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on Detroit residents to treat their dogs like family, encourage others to do the same, and blow the (dog) whistle on abuse.”

Hundreds of cities around the U.S.—including Dallas, Miami, and Tucson, Arizona—have enacted legislation banning the practice of tethering dogs alone outdoors. PETA asks that residents speak out against this cruel practice and push city officials to ban unattended chaining completely.

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.