PETA Offers to Clear Town Hall Sidewalks in Return for Placing Ad to Help Cold Dogs

Group Chose Middletown Because Township Has No Ban on Chaining Dogs

For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2014

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

PETA has sent a letter to Middletown Township Mayor Stephanie Murray with an offer that the group hopes she won’t refuse: PETA will help the township save money by clearing snow from the next major winter storm from the sidewalks around town hall if the mayor grants the group permission to stencil its anti-chaining ad on the sidewalk. The ad shows a sad chained dog and reads, “Chained Dog? A Chilling Tail.”

PETA chose Middletown Township because, despite the community’s cold winters, it has no ban on chaining dogs. PETA hopes the ad will inspire township leaders to ban chaining, as authorities in many towns across the U.S. have already done.

“Chained dogs are subjected to everything from freezing temperatures to mind-numbing loneliness to attacks by other animals or cruel people,” says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “We implore residents to allow their dogs indoors—not just when it snows but year-round.”

Every year, PETA receives thousands of reports of dogs left outdoors in the cold. Like people, dogs can suffer from frostbite and exposure, and they can become dehydrated when water sources freeze. Cold weather spells extra hardship for “backyard dogs,” who often go without adequate food, water, shelter, or veterinary care.

Dogs are often tethered on short ropes or chains and are forced to urinate and defecate in the same area in which they eat and sleep. Deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, chained dogs often go insane from frustration and lack of exercise or socialization.

Chaining dogs is also dangerous to humans. A study co-authored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that chained dogs are nearly three times as likely to attack as dogs who are not tethered.

PETA’s letter to Murray is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.