L’Observateur / September 7, 1999

DEAR EDITOR: It’s hurricane season and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is asking people to please remember their four-legged friends.

During past natural disasters, PETA’s emergency rescue team has witnessed sights ranging from a family who refused to evacuate if their animals were not allowed to come along, to a man who loaded his television set into the lifeboat while the dog looked on from his doghouse.

Some farmers simply abandoned the pigs and other animals they raise for slaughter. Rabbits were left in hutches to drown. Our workers pulled catsout of trees where they had clung for days in violent thunderstorms.

One family left three dogs chained in their backyard. They were founddrowned when the flood waters receded. Imagine the terror of swimmingfrantically at the end of a chain as the water rises higher and higher.

Please take a few minutes now to plan how to save your animals in the event of a flood or other natural disaster. Take them with you if at allpossible. Otherwise, arrange to get them to a friend or relative who livessomewhere safe. Never, never leave an animal confined or tied. Learnwhich motels accept animals. (Almost all Motel 6’s do.)Disasters hurt animals, too. Please lend them a helping hand.

Carla Bennett Senior Writer, PETA Norfolk, Va.

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher