Summer’s scorching temperatures pose a deadly danger to dogs kept chained or penned outdoors 24/7.

Since many people don’t realize that water can mean the difference between life and death for dogs, PETA has launched a multimedia messaging blitz: Don’t let your pup be the next casualty of a bone-dry water bowl. 

PETA’s sky-high alerts, convenience store displays, and radio spots will be running across the region to urge everyone to make sure dogs have plenty of water.

“Dogs must have access to clean, cool water throughout the day, and they can get sick and even die without it,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA urges everyone to provide dogs with fresh water daily, let them live indoors as members of the family, and call law enforcement if they see a dog who might be in distress.”

Every year, PETA’s rescue team finds dead or dying dogs, many confined to pens and/or with heavy chains around their necks. 

Dogs kept penned or chained outdoors often go without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care and are limited to the same few square feet of space day in and day out. 

Last summer, PETA fieldworkers found a Halifax County dog named Star dead at the end of a chain, without a drop of water or any shade. 

That’s why PETA urges everyone to keep dogs indoors and lobbies for animal protection laws, such as North Carolina’s HB 1116 (Fiona Mae Wagglebottom’s Act), which would prohibit keeping dogs tethered outside during extreme weather, including when temperatures are below 32 or above 85 degrees.

 PETA’s billboards have just gone up in the following locations:

On I-95 near Watson Seed Farm Road in Rocky Mount

On I-95 near U.S. Highway 701 in Four Oaks

On the North Carolina Highway 11 Bypass north of Frog Level Road in Greenville

On W.C. Rivers Drive near the intersection with W. Second Street in Weldon

On I-95 near Exit 168 and North Carolina Highway 903 in Roanoke Rapids

On U.S. Route 158 at the intersection with Mill Pond Road in Gates

PETA’s radio spots about dogs will be running throughout the state, and the group has placed ads in convenience stores in Bertie, Halifax, Hertford, Nash, and Pitt counties.