With Glee headed into its fourth season, glee-club member, Artie Abrams, played by Kevin McHale, is encouraging everyone to root for the underdog – that is, for dogs and cats awaiting homes in animal shelters.
A brand-new PETA ad features McHale hugging his rescued dog, Sophie, next to the words “Adopt, Don’t Buy”. The ad goes on to encourage people to “be part of the solution to animal overpopulation and save a life by adopting from your local shelter”.
Talking to PETA US about adding Sophie to his life, McHale says, “I fostered her for a week to see how she worked on the Glee set, and she worked out great,” he says. “A few months later, she’s still mine”.
McHale also stresses the importance of spaying and neutering and reveals that fellow Glee stars – and PETA US spokespeople – Lea Michele and Jane Lynch may have inspired his PETA campaign. As McHale explains, “All my friends and all the crew members of Glee – they’re the biggest advocates of dog adoption, so it was kind of a no-brainer to do it”.
Not all homeless animals are as lucky as Sophie: each year, thousands of cats and dogs in animal shelters must be euthanized because there aren’t enough good homes for them. Other animals are abandoned on the streets, where they starve to death, get injured or killed by vehicles or fall prey to abuse. Adopting, not buying, is the answer. Also, the best way to minimize the number of homeless cats and dogs is by always having companion animals spayed or neutered.
Kevin McHale joins a long list of celebrities – including Pink, Justin Bieber, Ryan Gosling, Ke$ha, Kellan Lutz and Joss Stone – who have teamed up with PETA and its affiliates to promote kindness to animals.
For more information, visit PETA.org.uk.
