Metta World Peace Stars in New PETA Ad

NBA Star Urges Fans to Report Animal Abuse

For Immediate Release:
July 25, 2013

Contact:
Wendy Wegner 202-483-7382

Los Angeles — Sitting protectively with his canine pals Stella and Athena, Metta World Peace is the star of a brand-new PETA campaign reminding his fans that “it takes only a moment to speak up for an animal in need” and that animal abuse should always be reported immediately to local authorities.

The new ad (available here), which comes as summer temperatures around the country are skyrocketing, includes an appeal from Metta for everyone to recognize that leaving dogs in hot cars—even in the shade with the windows open a crack—is abuse. He also urges people who see a dog in a hot car never to leave the area until the animal is safe. “It’s a basic love that animals bring to your household,” he says in an exclusive video for PETA. “It’s something that only animals can do.”

The ad was shot by top celebrity photographer Robert Sebree and can also be seen as a larger-than-life billboard atop PETA’s Bob Barker Building on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Metta, whose first PETA campaign urged families always to spay and neuter their dogs and cats, is part of a long list of athletes and other celebrities—including Candace Parker, Robbie Rogers, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tony Gonzalez, Aaron Curry, Dennis Rodman, and Chase Utley—who have teamed up with PETA to fight animal abuse.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.