As the Hurricane Harvey rescue crew maneuvered their boat to save the frantic dog, her head the only thing visible above the rising, debris-filled floodwaters. They realized why she hadn’t been able to swim to them when they called out - someone had chained her to the porch to face the killer storm alone!

Thanks to your commitment to end animal abuse, year after year our In Defense of Animals staff and volunteers are able to help animals in similarly heartbreaking situations - animals like Brownie, a poor dog who was left to starve to death at the end of a heavy chain in the dead of a below-zero winter and without even a scrap of blanket. Your generous support also saved Leonard, another dog found in equally frigid weather, tied and crippled. He was dragging his broken body around when we found him, trying desperately to keep warm.

Currently, precious few localities nationwide, and only 21 states, have ordinances or laws that address the issue of animal tethering, and most of those regulations are impotent, riddled with loopholes, and rarely enforced.

No animal should be chained and forgotten, tethered without food or water or love. Left defenseless against attacks by wild predators while neglected collars dig into their necks, they are unable to escape the blistering sun, killer storms, or the icy cold.

In supporting our Break the Chains project, your contribution will bring about strong, enforceable, anti-tethering laws nationwide all the way up to the federal level.

Your donation today will:

• Create an action team that will gather and present the facts on the life-threatening dangers and chronic discomfort faced by endlessly tethered dogs (and cats!).

• Unite frontline observers — electric, postal service, and cable company workers, animal control officers, veterinarians, and real estate agents nationwide — amassing for the first time what these individuals see on a daily basis with regard to chained animals.

• Lay early groundwork for a federal anti-tethering law by allowing us to identify and prioritize which states offer the best chance for legislative change, maximizing our effectiveness and setting legal precedent.

• Put In Defense of Animals anti-tethering experts in the field to unearth the best of any existing legislation and build that legislation into a single, straightforward master bill.

• Rescue and rehabilitate formerly tethered dogs through our Hope Animal Sanctuary in Mississippi, and find them loving, new, forever guardians.

We're happy to report that Leonard, Brownie, and the little dog who was chained to her porch during Hurricane Harvey have all found happy new families. However, in Palm Beach County after Hurricane Irma, dozens more dogs were tied to trees and poles and left behind as the storm barreled down. We can’t see anti-tethering laws enforced nationwide without your help, and there’s no time to lose.

To the desperate faces at the end of every tether, friends like you and me are all they have. Please help us break their chains today.