Leaving animals outside in frigid weather is animal cruelty. There are many dogs that are chained and/or penned outside all the time in York County, and we know that their plastic or wooden dog houses are not sufficient shelter to keep them from physical suffering during freezing weather.

My heart aches for all the dogs left outside. I can't imagine the relentless agony and misery they have to endure hour upon hour in this bitter cold weather. If someone put a dog in a freezer, they would be arrested for animal cruelty. So why do we allow these people to leave their dogs shivering outside in frigid weather?

The adequate shelter definition in the York County animal ordinance states: “A shelter is an enclosed, weatherproof structure that is manufactured or constructed expressly for housing a dog or cat that reasonably may be expected to protect the animal from physical suffering or impairment due to exposure to the elements or adverse weather. It must be accessible to an animal and be of sufficient size and nature as to provide the animal with adequate protection from the sun, heat, cold or rain, and it must be elevated off the ground of sufficient height to keep water, snow or ice from entering and allow the animal to remain comfortable in outside conditions.”

Examples of unacceptable shelter include, but are not limited to: underneath or inside motor vehicles, garbage cans, cardboard boxes, plastic or metal barrels, animal transport crates or carriers, under houses, structures, decks, outside steps or stoops.

As stated in the law, adequate shelter needs to protect the animal from physical suffering or impairment due to exposure to the elements or adverse weather. We need to stand up for these innocent dogs that have no voice and are in misery during this freezing weather.

Bonnie Lindberg

Catawba