When PETA field workers found Remy, his leash was too tangled to reach the kennel and water bucket PETA had provided, his body temperature was dangerously high, and he could only gasp for breath in the scorching North Carolina sun.
Elsewhere in North Carolina, Chico, a small, brown cub, had no shelter other than a flimsy airplane crate riddled with holes, its water bowl filled with mud and its food bowl with nothing but earth. He cowered as workers tried to remove ticks from his body.
Koko, a gentle brown pit bull, hadn't had water for so long that when workers washed and filled a bucket with water, Koko continued drinking for more than a minute and a half.
These are just some of the desperate dogs PETA's Community Animal Project field workers helped this summer in North Carolina, where temperatures reached record levels. The state's only current laws protecting dogs from abuse are weak, vague and decades behind other states, including Virginia and Texas.
It is long past time to ban the cruel practice of chaining dogs or confining them outside in all weather in North Carolina and anywhere else.
Our field crews deliver sturdy, custom-made wooden dog houses to dogs who are not adequately protected from the elements, clean and refill empty, algae-covered buckets, feed and treat starving dogs whose owners have done nothing but throw old dog food and scraps on the ground, and treat them for fleas and ticks. They do everything they can to make the lives of “outdoor dogs” a little less miserable, encouraging owners to keep their dogs indoors and giving them a chance to be adopted by someone who will treat them like a family member and not a cheap alarm system.
But when owners refuse, and there are no effective laws to protect dogs from the abuse that comes with being chained or forced to live in small cages 24 hours a day, police's hands are tied. All field workers can do is talk to owners about basic animal care and return as often as possible to address the basic needs of these abused animals. Meanwhile, the dogs suffer every day.
Our staff routinely find forgotten dogs dead or dying from heat stroke in the hot summer, hypothermia in the winter, and starvation, dehydration, anemia, heartworm disease, etc. year-round. Without strong laws against this cruelty, the people who allow these animals to suffer and die may only pay small, if any, fines and are free to take other animals that could suffer the same horrific fate.
At least 65 North Carolina municipalities have passed laws banning tethering 24/7 or requiring that animals have at least sturdy shelter, clean water, and species-appropriate food within reach. Cities including Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Burlington, and Asheville have amended their laws to ban or severely restrict tethering dogs.
These vital, life-saving measures have widespread public support, but the tragic cases above, and so many others documented by PETA’s field workers every day, prove that piecemeal regulation is not enough.
North Carolina needs strong statewide legislation. Let's pass it.
Daphna Nachminovich is PETA's senior vice president of cruelty investigations in Norfolk, Virginia.
