Now that PETA is no longer visiting the Northhampton County and Bertie County pounds to assist with care and cleaning and to pick up animals for euthanasia, Northampton County has resumed the use of its crude, cruel gas chamber, and the Bertie County pound removed PETA’s sturdy doghouses; animals there now have nothing but barren, cold plastic barrels for shelter.

PETA was first invited to help animals in North Carolina by a police officer who was appalled by conditions in area “shelters”—some are just shacks without heating in which animals were left to drown or freeze to death. PETA has now helped countless animals in North Carolina and assisted animal control agencies and personnel with training, supplies, and services. PETA has spent more than $240,000 in the past few years in one county in North Carolina alone, making improvements for animals. Each dollar spent means a needy animal helped—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)

We have also delivered hundreds of free, sturdy doghouses and straw in winter to dogs who have nothing or next to nothing to protect them from the elements—perhaps only a metal barrel or a tree during storms. We have gone to the rescue of dogs and cats who need veterinary care for which PETA has then paid the bills; and we have even built a whole cat shelter from the ground up in an area where cats were previously set free into the woods to breed. PETA has provided euthanasia services to various counties in that state to prevent animals from being shot with a .22 behind a shed or gassed in windowless metal boxes—both practices that were carried out until PETA volunteered to provide a painless death for the animals, free of charge. We believe that euthanasia is a kindness for dogs and cats who are born into a world that doesn’t want them, has not cared for them, and ultimately has abandoned them to be disposed of. We welcome discussion of this issue because 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 population overload; and too few people spay and neuter their animals or keep animals for a lifetime.

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), dogs from North Carolina pounds often have conditions such as parvovirus or contagious mange. Many have lived their whole lives on a chain—in one recent case, a dog had a chain embedded deeply into his infected neck—and are not generally socialized or attractive to people, most of whom are looking for small, cute, housebroken puppies without medical problems.

Dog With Mange Rescued From Northampton County Shelter	Bertie County, North Carolina, Puppy With Eye Injury	Dog With Collar Piercing Neck, Rescued From North Carolina

How can you help? In many ways: If anyone feels they can offer a home to any animal, please go to your shelters now, as there are many there who are waiting for you. Get two to keep each other company. You can also help by lobbying your city or other legislative body for spay/neuter legislation, getting the pet shop out of your local mall, making sure that your local shelters require spaying/neutering before adoption, and distributing our educational literature—or contacting us for other suggestions. You can make a difference, which is what we live to do.

PETA seeks to solve the animal overpopulation problem in North Carolina by subsidizing spay/neuter services, but we do not and will not hesitate to roll up our sleeves and do the dirty work at our own expense. Although it is hard to deal with for everyone, discussing euthanasia may make some people decide not to add to the dog and cat population explosion, to make an appointment to get their animals spayed or neutered, or to get involved with their local humane society or with PETA.

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