Video: For These Rescued Animals, 2020 Was the Best Year Ever

For Immediate Release:
December 28, 2020

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Although 2020 is a year that most people can’t wait to say “goodbye” to, for the animals PETA rescued, it was the year their lives changed for the better. A newly released PETA video shows just some of these animals’ dramatic transformations, as they go from being chained outdoors or caged in roadside zoos to sleeping indoors with a family for the first time or taking their first steps in a new home at a true sanctuary.

2020 started out miserable as usual for animals in roadside zoos, including big-cat cubs used by notorious Tiger King exploiters Tim Stark and Jeff Lowe; Dillan, a bear who was held in a cramped cage next to a shooting range at a “sportsmen’s club”; and Cheyenne, Peka, and Mowgli, three big cats who languished in filthy enclosures. But it’s ending with good tidings, as each of them is now living in the vast naturalistic habitats of accredited sanctuaries.

The year also brought Mingo a wonderful life with a new canine brother to chase and comfy couches to sleep on, after the PETA fieldworker who rescued her from the small outdoor pen where she lived in isolation for seven years adopted her. Wishes came true for Capone, a dog who was also adopted by a PETA staffer after being rescued from a rusty wire cage, and Bea, a mini horse who ran for the first time after receiving veterinary care for badly overgrown hooves. And while most of us agree that 2020 went down the drain, it was the opposite for little Mikey, a plucky kitten who was stuck in a storm drain and freed by PETA rescuers.

“These animals’ stories serve as a reminder to all of us to speak up if we see animals in trouble, and their happy endings prove that it’s never too late to change someone’s life,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “No matter what 2021 brings, PETA will be there for any animal in need.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. More details about PETA’s work to help animals can be found at PETA.org, and additional information can be found on PETA’s blog.