As temperatures near freezing at night in your area, PETA is reminding residents it\u2019s illegal to leave animals outside, where they shiver and ache in the cold and can even freeze to death. <\/strong>Animals are especially vulnerable in the winter, and there were at least 37 reported cold weather\u2013related companion animal deaths<\/a> in 2019. (Most are not reported.) That\u2019s why PETA works with law-enforcement officials in North Carolina to get charges filed against people who illegally leave their animals outside in extreme weather.<\/p>\n The following steps can go a long way toward helping animals survive the freezing temperatures coming to your area:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Companion animals should live indoors with their human families. \u201cBackyard dogs<\/a>\u201d and \u201coutdoor cats\u201d\u2014like those featured in Breaking the Chain<\/em><\/a>, the new documentary produced by Oscar winner Anjelica Huston\u2014often go without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care. Their water turns to ice, their food turns to mush if left out in the rain, and these animals are no better equipped to survive freezing temperatures or extreme weather conditions than humans are. They can suffer terribly from frostbite and die of exposure.<\/p>\n Coats will keep dogs comfortable in cold weather, secure harnesses can help prevent them from getting loose on walks, and booties will protect their sensitive paw pads from the frozen ground. Keep walks short in cold weather, especially for shorthaired dogs.<\/p>\n If your town or county allows the continuous chaining of dogs<\/a>, work with local officials to get a ban passed\u2014and contact PETA for help.<\/p>\n Animals left outside in the cold need people to help them<\/strong>\u2014otherwise, they could die. Many chained dogs are pit bulls, whose short hair leaves them particularly vulnerable. Please be on the lookout for any dog kept chained or penned outside 24\/7 or without adequate shelter from the elements and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately<\/strong>.<\/p>\n PETA has released a cold-weather public service announcement<\/strong><\/a>? For more information, please visit\u00a0PETA.org<\/strong><\/a> or follow us on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>, Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, or Instagram<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Counties that have been alerted to PETA\u2019s winter weather preparedness tips include Northampton, Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, and Pasquotank counties.<\/p>\n #<\/p>\n The post Urgent From PETA: Leaving Animals Outside Is a Crime in North Carolina<\/a> appeared first on PETA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n This post was originally published on Blog \u2013 PETA<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As temperatures near freezing at night in your area, PETA is reminding residents it\u2019s illegal to leave animals outside, where they shiver and ache in the cold and can even freeze to death. Animals are especially vulnerable in the winter, and there were at least 37 reported cold weather\u2013related companion animal deaths in 2019. (Most… Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n The post Urgent From PETA: Leaving Animals Outside Is a Crime in North Carolina<\/a> appeared first on PETA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2304,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2145,8687,2147],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49304,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49303\/revisions\/49304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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![Backyard dogs<\/a>\u201d and \u201coutdoor cats\u201d\u2014like those featured in](\"http:\/\/www.mediapeta.com\/peta\/IGC\/JTM20used20-12a.jpg\"){kind=link}