ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUP PETA ENCOURAGES AN ANIMAL-FRIENDLY QUARANTINE

The organisation’s suggestions include cooking vegan meals, fostering or adopting a dog or cat from the local shelter, and enjoying lots of playtime with your four-legged family members.

With South Africa on lockdown, PETA’s latest public service announcement urges anyone who’s still out and not an essential worker to head home and spend some quality time with their animal companions. “PETA reminds everyone to show their animal companions some love during these tough times,” says PETA Senior Vice President of International Campaigns Jason Baker.

Countless animals are currently fending for themselves on the streets, where they may be hit by cars, suffer from diseases, or endure abuse. That’s why PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—urges everyone always to adopt animals, never buy them from breeders or pet stores, and to have them spayed or neutered.

In addition, the group offers animal guardians tips on ways to keep cats and dogs happy and healthy during this unprecedented crisis:

• Stock up on two weeks’ worth of animal food and treats, medications (if necessary), and cat litter.
  
  
• If your area still permits dog walking, wear a mask when you go out and wipe down your dog’s paws and snout with animal-safe wipes afterward. Don’t let anyone pet your pup, as the virus can stay on animals’ fur just as it can on any other surface.
  
  
• Anyone showing symptoms of Covid-19 should stay indoors and away from others and arrange for someone else to care for any animals in the household.