Video: Officer Saves Cold Dog—What Happens Next Will Warm Your Heart

For Immediate Release:
February 27, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

On a cold day just after Christmas, Officer Michael Pascale with the New York Police Department was on the job in Brooklyn when he spotted an abandoned dog chained to a fence in the freezing rain, soaking wet and huddled against the bracing wind. He immediately jumped out of his car and ran over to the shivering animal—and as this new PETA video released today shows, one look in the dog’s eyes and Pascale knew he was looking at family. He officially adopted the pup and named him Joey, and now the two are inseparable.

“When I saw Joey tied up and chained in that park, I knew I had to take care of him and I had to bring him home and give him all the love and attention that I know he deserves,” Pascale says in the video. Joey rides “shotgun” in his squad car, poses for silly selfies, and is always up for an adventure. He’s finally warm, well-fed, and cared for—and he’ll never again feel the weight of a chain around his neck or be left to die in the cold.

Now, Pascale is teaming up with PETA to help prevent other dogs from being left outside to face the elements alone.

“If someone sees a situation out in the street of an animal being abused or abandoned or anything along those lines, the first thing to do is to call 911,” he advises. “It really is a ‘see something, say something’ kind of situation.”

Like Pascale, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—urges all animal guardians never to chain dogs up outdoors, pointing out that doing so is speciesist, a form of discrimination against “others.” Anyone who encounters a “backyard dog” should determine whether the animal has adequate food, water, and shelter and should report any signs of suffering or neglect to law-enforcement officials immediately.

More information about Joey’s adoption story is available on PETA’s blog.