NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- While animal shelters nationwide reduced services, particularly critical spay/neuter and end-of-life services, PETA's spay/neuter clinics and fieldworkers stepped up their free services in the underserved regions surrounding PETA's Norfolk, Va., headquarters. PETA's rescue teams—which respond 24/7—are the only resource for people who cannot access timely, affordable euthanasia services due to skyrocketing veterinary care costs; clinics with waiting lists weeks or months long; emergency centers limiting hours or closing altogether; and many animal shelters turning away desperate people and animals so as to artificially elevate their "save rates." Watch highlights from PETA's 2025 community work here.

PETA is urgently appealing to government officials and the public to help end the homeless-animal crisis via prevention: sterilizing, helping others do the same, and adopting rather than buying animals. As millions of dogs and cats flood facilities nationwide, many shelters are adopting "no-kill" policies, making it difficult or impossible to turn in an animal or even be a good Samaritan when finding a stray. PETA constantly hears from people who've tried to bring an animal to a shelter only to be told it's "full" or there's a long waiting list, admission fees, or they don't take in cats at all. This means unwanted animals are abandoned and continue to reproduce, exacerbating the problem.

PETA never turns animals away. It provides free, end-of-life services for people with fixed or no income when they have sick and dying animals and is the only open-admission animal shelter in the region that takes in all comers—without restrictions, appointments, waiting lists, or fees. In 2025, PETA spent $3,244,944 on regional services, including:

• Providing more than 3,000 families with free supplies, counseling, and veterinary care
• "Fixing" 14,211 animals, preventing millions from being born into homelessness
• Helping more than 420 animals find loving homes, many via partnerships with local organizations
• Custom-building and delivering 103 free insulated doghouses and straw bedding to dogs tethered or penned outside 24/7
• Providing more than 7,000 "24/7 outdoor" dogs with free flea and flystrike prevention, water, food, and toys
• Providing 1,684 elderly, feral, sick, dying, aggressive, and otherwise unadoptable animals with end-of-life help—615 of whom were brought to PETA by destitute guardians desperate to alleviate their animals' suffering, and others turned away by "no-kill" facilities
• Providing free transportation to over 800 animals to and from its clinics for guardians without transportation

"The problems for dogs and cats are overwhelming, and while PETA works hard to ensure that every animal is cherished and treated as an individual, we cannot do this alone," says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "Everyone can save lives by sterilizing their dogs and cats, fighting for anti-tethering laws, and always choosing to adopt—never shop."

PETA points out that Every Animal Is Someone. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

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SOURCE People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)