PETA Recounts Work to Combat Animal Neglect and Homelessness in 2021

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Many animal shelters and veterinary clinics reduced services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but PETA's mobile spay/neuter clinics and fieldwork never stopped. The group spent over $2.6 million in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina alone, providing free services—including delivery of food, doghouses, straw, and other supplies; counseling and veterinary care to help people keep their animals; and end-of-life assistance for families with ill, aged, aggressive, or dying animals. Glimpse PETA's community work here.

PETA is again appealing to government officials and the public to help end the homeless-animal crisis via prevention by having animals spayed or neutered, helping others do the same, adopting and never buying animals, and reporting neglect. Millions of dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters annually—and many others are abandoned to suffer and die on the street, especially during the pandemic, when many shelters have closed their doors to incoming animals.

In 2021, PETA's work in impoverished areas—as profiled in The Washington Post—included the following:

• "Fixing" 13,150 animals on its mobile clinics, preventing millions from being born into homelessness
• Transporting for free more than 650 animals to and from its clinics for guardians without transportation
• Providing more than 3,000 families with free counseling services and veterinary care for their animals
• Delivering 168 free sturdy doghouses and straw bedding to dogs tethered or penned outside 24/7
• Providing more than 7,000 dogs kept constantly chained or penned with free flea and flystrike prevention, water, food, and much-needed affection
• Placing 677 animals in loving homes or transferring them to animal shelter partners for adoption

"PETA works hard to ensure every animal born has a loving home with guardians who cherish, respect, and treat them as individuals, but we need the involvement of the government and the public," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Everyone can help by having their animal companions spayed or neutered, working to pass anti-chaining laws, and always choosing to adopt, never shop."

PETA is the only open-admission animal shelter in the region that takes in all animals—without restrictions, appointments, waiting lists, or admission fees.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

SOURCE People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)