Jennifer Aniston Nabs PETA Award for Being a ‘Friend’ to Homeless Animals

For Immediate Release:
March 7, 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Could Jennifer Aniston be any more awesome? At a time when animal shelters from coast to coast are overwhelmed, she uses her huge online platform to encourage people to adopt—and that’s why PETA is honoring her with the “I’ll Be There for You Adoption Advocacy Award” for Women’s History Month 2024. She not only posts pictures of her own beloved adopted dogs—including the most recent addition to her family, Lord Chesterfield—but also shares photos and videos of homeless animals with her 45 million Instagram followers urging them to adopt, often helping them quickly finding loving homes.

“Jennifer Aniston has proved that she’ll always be there for homeless animals by only adopting and never buying dogs or cats and using her massive platform to spotlight animals in need,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA urges everyone to follow her lead by finding their next friend at a shelter and notes that when you buy an animal, a homeless one loses his or her chance at a good home.”

PETA points out that animal shelters have been overrun for years, and now, “pandemic puppies” bought from breeders and pet stores during the COVID-19 lockdown are being dumped in record numbers—and some shelters with misguided policies are warehousing dogs for months or even years and abandoning cats to die badly on the streets. The solution to this crisis is to implement and enforce strict, mandatory spay-and-neuter laws and for everyone to adopt and not shop.

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.