Dogs’ Deaths Prompt Nationwide Cold Dog Ad Blitz

PETA Ads Urge Shoppers Across the Country Not to Chain Up Animals Outdoors

For Immediate Release:
March 12, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

PETA’s nationwide campaign to encourage people not to leave animals outdoors in cold weather has expanded to five cities where dogs reportedly froze to death last year after being left outside in freezing temperatures. The cities—in which anti-chaining ads featuring rap icon Eve are going up in major shopping centers this week—are Chicago; Detroit; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Missouri; and Philadelphia.

“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 billboards urge people to take dogs indoors, where they’re safe and warm, and not to abandon them outdoors to fend for themselves through bitterly cold 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 Illinois, 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.