Urgent Reminder Ahead of Winter Storm Gail: It’s Illegal in VA to Leave a Dog Chained out in the Cold

For Immediate Release:
December 15, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

As the Roanoke and Lynchburg areas are under a winter storm warning and parts of the state are expecting snow and ice from Winter Storm Gail, PETA is reminding dog guardians of the new state law that prohibits leaving dogs chained up or tethered outside when the temperature is 32 degrees or below or during severe weather warnings for winter storms.

Dogs left outside in these conditions have been found suffering from frostbite and exposure. It’s vital that guardians bring their dogs indoors—or face legal consequences.

“Anyone who has stepped outside during a snowstorm knows how chilling extreme temperatures feel, and animals are no better equipped to handle them than we are,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is urging animal guardians to prepare for Winter Storm Gail as if lives depend on it, because they do.”

Chaining dogs outdoors is dangerous and cruel, which is why—at PETA’s urging and with its ongoing advocacy and support—Virginia legislators voted to prohibit leaving dogs tethered outdoors during extreme weather. Even during milder weather conditions, state law requires that all dogs who are kept outdoors be provided with insulating straw or other bedding and that doghouses have a windbreak to help protect animals from the cold.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—urges good Samaritans who see companion animals kept chained or penned outside 24/7 or without adequate shelter from the elements to note the animals’ exact location and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately.

PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.