RICH SQUARE — In a major victory for dogs, Rich Square Mayor Victoria Newcombe and town commissioners have voted unanimously to pass a new ordinance that prohibits leaving dogs chained or tethered unattended outside and requires that guardians provide animal companions with adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care.
According to a press release from PETA, the ordinance — which will go into effect on Oct. 1 — comes after PETA met with Newcombe late last year to show her photographs and video clips of the appalling conditions, including severe heat and cold, that chained dogs endure and discuss her priorities for improving animal welfare standards in the area.
“Dogs in Rich Square will be spared a lifetime of isolation outside at the end of a chain, where they’re often denied companionship, exercise, and sometimes even food and water,” PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said in the release. “PETA stands ready to help residents comply with this lifesaving ordinance and urges other communities to follow Rich Square’s lead by banning the cruel practice of keeping dogs chained outside like old bicycles.”
Every day, PETA’s field rescue team finds dogs tethered outdoors without adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care even when gravely ill or injured, confined to the same few square feet of space 24/7 without any opportunity to enjoy life. Chained dogs have frozen to death during cold snaps and died from heatstroke on sweltering summer days, the release reads. PETA staffers and volunteers deliver straw bedding and insulated wooden doghouses all winter long to dogs kept chained or penned outdoors and work with people throughout the U.S. to advocate for tethering bans and animal care standards in their communities.
As temperatures continue to soar, PETA urges everyone to be on the lookout for any dog kept chained or penned outside 24/7. Witnesses should take pictures from public property; note how long an animal is left without adequate food, water, or shelter; and alert local law-enforcement authorities immediately. If they don’t respond promptly, call PETA.
Rich Square’s new ordinance makes it illegal to “[t]ether, chain, or tie an animal to a fixed object as a means of permanent confinement.” Individuals who have questions can visit Rich Square Town Hall for more details, review the ordinance in full at richsquarenc.org, or call 252-539-2315. Informational flyers will be distributed, and a community meeting is planned to discuss issues and solutions to assist with compliance.
PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” — points out that every animal is someone and offers free empathy kits for people who need a lesson in kindness.
For more information, visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook or Instagram.
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