PETA first learned about Boomer when his owner was seeking a new doghouse for the 4-year-old Rottweiler, who was left outside 24/7 in the Pacific Northwest. A PETA cruelty caseworker urged her to allow Boomer to live indoors or else give him up so that he could have a chance to be adopted by someone who would. When she balked at doing either, the caseworker worked with a local animal advocate to try to persuade her to act in Boomer's best interests.

Happily, Boomer's owner eventually opted to give him up so that he wouldn't have to spend the whole winter shivering outside all alone. Now the personable pup is in a foster home, and his foster mom is so smitten with him that she says if she can't find the "perfect, perfect home" for him, she will just keep him herself.

It's the best possible outcome for a dog or cat—a bright future filled with care and affection instead of cold and loneliness.

What You Can Do

Please help dogs like Boomer by working to pass anti-chaining legislation in your community, and if you know of any animals left outside all the time, don't assume that the owners won't listen to you—speak up and try to make a difference!

wikimedia / CC

Hold on to your cruelty-free hats for this one, folks. We've got a case of the hideously cruel and ridiculously obvious to break.

In early September, we learned about the death of Diamond, a Rottweiler who died while in the custody of a Clay County, Florida, animal control officer. The poor dog likely died from heat shock, allegedly because the animal control officer left her in the back of the seething-hot van with no air conditioning, water, or fresh air on an 85° day—after riding around with her for an hour or so and while he attended a meeting.

A necropsy came up inconclusive but suggested that the death was related to heat stress. This was not good enough for Clay County officials, evidently, and they actually decided a reenactment was necessary so they could prove that the officer wasn't at fault. Ready for it … WHAT?!!???!!

Yeah, you can't make this stuff up. They placed a homeless shelter dog who was "of similar size and weight" as Diamond into the exact same box, in which the heat reached more than 86 degrees, and waited—presumably to see if the dog would die. This lasted for more than one hour. I think we need one more resounding WHAT!???!!??? I mean, seriously, people, this is just completely insane—not to mention horrifically cruel. The fate of that poor dog has not been made public.

While it's bad enough that a dog died in the county's custody in the first place, this whole aftermath reenactment just makes me physically ill. Naturally, PETA Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch immediately sent off a letter to Clay County blasting them for their senseless decision to subject a second dog to obviously potentially fatal conditions.

If you are as outraged by Clay County's actions as we are, please take action!

Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky