Push to Keep Dogs out of Hot Cars Goes National

PETA Launches ‘Jennie’s Project’ in Memory of Dog Killed in Hot Car

For Immediate Release:
May 24, 2018

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

In advance of National Heat Awareness Day (May 25), PETA has launched Jennie’s Project, a multipronged effort to prevent dogs from dying in hot cars. The campaign was named in memory of Jennie, a dog who made national headlines last year after her owner left her to die in a hot car just three years after his previous dog had died the same way.

On a 78-degree day, the temperature inside a parked car can soar to over 100 degrees in just minutes, and this can cause horrific deaths by heatstroke—even in the shade with the windows open slightly. And air conditioners can fail, so they can’t be relied on to keep animals at a safe temperature. That’s why Jennie’s Project includes the following efforts:

• Running ads warning of the dangers of hot cars, including billboards starring Krysten Ritter and a TV spot starring Simon Cowell
• Working with malls and big-box stores to warn shoppers not to leave dogs or children in their parked cars
• Writing to the heads of 30 state transportation departments asking them to add warning messages to highway signs
• Sending media advisories with lifesaving information to cities where temperatures are rising
• Pushing the Weather Channel and AccuWeather to include dogs and other animals in alerts and coverage of extreme weather events
• Stenciling “Too Hot for Spot!” messages on city sidewalks
• Offering an emergency window-breaking hammer and a “Too Hot for Spot” Car Sunshade in the PETA Catalog

“Every summer, PETA receives reports of dozens of dogs who baked to death after being left in parked cars,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Jennie’s Project aims to prevent more horrific deaths like these by reminding all animal guardians that even a few minutes locked inside a car can be deadly.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—notes that already this year, at least seven dogs have died in hot cars and 25 more have been rescued just in time, including two dogs in California. At least 44 animals died in 2017, and at least 52 died in 2016—and those are just the reported deaths.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.