PETA’s Work Helping Animals in North Carolina

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In 2000, PETA was invited to help North Carolina animals by a caring police officer who had witnessed terrible suffering and was appalled by conditions in area “shelters”—some are just outdoor shacks that lack heating and cooling and leave animals to drown or freeze to death during bad weather. In subsequent years, PETA got involved by assisting the pounds with cleaning, euthanizing unadopted animals, adopting out animals when excellent homes were available, training staff, providing supplies, conducting cruelty investigations, and providing adequate shelter to animals housed at the primitive facilities (and to members of the local community, whom we continue to provide doghouses and free spay/neuter assistance to). PETA has spent more than $300,000 in the past few years in our service areas in North Carolina. Each dollar spent means help for a needy animal—cold abated, shade provided, water and food given.

Old Gas Chamber—Bertie County Shelter, North Carolina (No Longer in Use as a Result of PETA's Efforts)

PETA has delivered straw and hundreds of free, sturdy doghouses to dogs who have nothing or next to nothing to protect them from the elements during winter—perhaps only a metal barrel or a tree during storms. We have come to the rescue of dogs and cats who need veterinary care (which PETA has paid the bills for). We have built an entire cat shelter from the ground up in an area where cats were previously set free into the woods to breed. In addition, we are currently building a brand new facility for one of the local municipalities.

Because the pounds in the area didn’t have an adoption program or even operating hours, the animals were slated to die—horribly—by being shot with a .22, gassed in windowless metal boxes or injected with a paralytic that is so unimaginably cruel that it paralyzed these discarded, homeless animals and caused them to suffocate and have their organs seize up, all while fully aware and terrified. These practices were carried out for decades, until PETA stepped in to provide a painless death for the animals—free of charge. Although we were able to secure the services of a veterinarian for lethal injection at one of the four pounds we discovered, animals slated to die at the other facilities would have experienced slow, agonizing deaths if we hadn’t picked them up for euthanasia.

Dog With Mange Rescued From Northampton County Shelter

Bertie County, North Carolina, Puppy With Eye Injury

No one likes to euthanize animals, and no one despises the ugly reality of euthanasia more than the people who hold the syringe. But we could not turn our backs on these animals, who had already been mistreated and left for dead at these county facilities.

Although we have placed dogs and cats in homes—indeed, one dog from North Carolina lives in our office (click here to see some of the animals we’ve adopted out), most of the cats and dogs we’ve helped in North Carolina have been in such debilitated condition, physically and emotionally, that adoption was not a humane or feasible option for them.

Parvovirus, heartworms, mange, Lyme disease, untreated injuries such as embedded collars and broken or even exposed bones, and advanced severe parasitic infestations were commonly found at the pounds we serviced.

Thanks to PETA’s involvement, animals who would have had a frightening and violent death slipped away into nothingness—peacefully and in loving arms. Dignity, a good meal, a kind word, and a gentle touch are more than any of these unwanted animals had ever known before.

PETA works ’round the clock to bring about the day when every companion animal born has a good home waiting for him or her—a day when animal homelessness is non-existent. Until that day comes, we believe that euthanasia is a kind option for dogs and cats who are born into a world that doesn’t want them, has not cared for them, and has abandoned them to be disposed of. We welcome discussion about this issue, but the sad fact is that there are far too few good homes to go around. People patronize pet shops where dogs and cats can be bought on a credit card or seek out purebreds from breeders who are adding to the overpopulation crisis, and too few people spay and neuter their animals or keep animals for a lifetime.

How can you help? If anyone feels they can offer a home to an animal, please go to your local animal shelter. It’s a good idea to get two animals so that they can keep each other company. You can also help by lobbying your city or other legislative body for spay/neuter legislation, getting pet shops out of local malls, making sure that local shelters require spaying/neutering before adoption, and distributing our educational literature. Feel free to contact us for other suggestions. You can make a difference.

PETA seeks to solve the animal overpopulation problem in North Carolina by subsidizing spay/neuter services, but we do not hesitate to roll up our sleeves and do the dirty work at our own expense. In 2006 alone, PETA built and delivered nearly 350 custom-made doghouses to needy dogs. By becoming an “Angel for Animals” doghouse sponsor, you can help us surpass that number this winter.

Although it is hard to deal with for everyone, discussing euthanasia may make some people decide not to contribute to the dog and cat population explosion, to make an appointment to get their animals spayed or neutered, or to support organizations that provide low-cost or free spay and neuter services. You can donate to organizations like this in your area, or you can sponsor a surgery for a dog or cat in PETA’s SNIP program.

Learn more, and read "The Dilemma of the Unwanted."

You can improve the lives of dogs and cats suffering from cruelty and neglect.

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