May 10, 2016
In late April, PETA and 10 other regional animal shelters came together for a special “adopt-a-thon” at our Bea Arthur Dog Park, featuring more than two dozen dogs eager to find new families to call their own. This terrific event coincided with National “Adopt a Shelter Pet” Day and ended with Mickey—a pup who was chained in a backyard for being “too playful”—and many other dogs like him finding new “forever” homes!
This latest successful PETA adopt-a-thon is just one example of what PETA’s team of animal-care professionals has accomplished in recent weeks. In addition to responding to more than 1,100 e-mails and phone calls, our staff came to the aid of many animals who were in desperate need of our help, and some of their stories are below.
PETA transported these two sweet dogs from North Carolina—Oreo and Kush—to free spay and neuter appointments at PETA’s mobile clinics and back to their loving guardians.
In recent weeks, our team delivered 15 sturdy new doghouses to lonely “backyard dogs” like Maxine. When fieldworkers first came across Maxine, she was chained outside with nothing but an old transport crate as a miserable excuse for “shelter.” After giving her some much-needed affection and cleaning up her debris-strewn yard, we provided her with a new doghouse placed in a shaded area, which will help her find some relief from the coming summer heat. PETA fieldworkers have since made follow-up visits to Maxine to spay her and help treat an eye infection that she had developed during her long days outside.
Blackie’s situation wasn’t much better when our fieldworkers found him. He was chained outside with just a run-down plastic doghouse that did nothing to protect him from torrential rains or the scorching sun. We quickly moved him to a shaded area and delivered a free custom-built doghouse, and a short time later, we arranged for him to be neutered.
Bitty Bit’s quality of life had been steadily diminishing for some time. This elderly Chihuahua was blind in one eye, deaf, missing most of her teeth, incontinent, and suffering from an aggressive cancer on her ear that kept coming back no matter how frequently it was removed. As her health failed, Bitty Bit’s owners desperately wanted to give her the peaceful goodbye that this beloved dog deserved, but they couldn’t afford to pay a veterinarian to do so. We provided this service at no cost, allowing Bitty Bit to pass peacefully with her very thankful family by her side.
Maybach was rushed to emergency care by a local animal control agency after the young, unneutered pit bull was shot during a botched robbery attempt. He was X-rayed and bandaged up, but his owners couldn’t cover the cost of further treatment, so animal services put his family in touch with PETA for help. Our veterinarian met the worried family after-hours and immediately began working to save Maybach. Unfortunately, additional X-rays and an ultrasound revealed that the pup’s situation was grim: One collapsed lung, severe internal bleeding, and the imminent collapse of his remaining functioning lung made his recovery unlikely. We released Maybach from his suffering and are now offering a $5,000 reward for the capture of the cruel person who shot this poor dog.
Finally, we have updates on two more animals who are both now living with loving families.
Many of you may remember Leela—a bunny who was rescued after a recent PETA eyewitness exposé of a massive animal mill in Pennsylvania that bred small animals to sell to Petco, PetSmart, and scores of other pet stores. Today, this adorable rabbit has recovered from her ordeal and has found a wonderful new home with her foster family!
And when our team first met Ricky the cat, he had a severely infected foot that he couldn’t bear any weight on and he was missing patches of fur on his shoulder and tail, likely the result of old gunshot wounds sustained during his many days outside. After we took Ricky home from his surgery, his owner asked us to take him away and find him a new home—which is exactly what happened soon after a family read Ricky’s story in PETA News and quickly fell in love with this gregarious young cat.
Thank you for your compassion and for everything that you do to make all our life-changing work for animals possible.