If you live in one of many U.S. regions where frigid temperatures are common and snow, sleet and ice are inevitable, you know what to expect.

But here’s a new warning if you’re a pet owner:

Don’t leave your poor pet outside in the freezing cold for too long. Because if you do, the police may come knocking at your door.

An extension of Pennsylvania’s Libre Law has animal lovers everywhere cheering:

If animals are left outside for more than 30 minutes in freezing temperatures, the owners will face punishment.

Possible penalties include fines – all the way up to $750 – and even up to 90 days in prison for minor offenses.

For more serious cases, where the animal has been neglected or abused, the fines rise steeply (up to $15,000) and jail time could be as long as 7 years.

That’s because the latter is now seen as a third-degree felony in the eyes of Pennsylvania law, so you better take this news seriously.

Kristen Tullo, director of the Pennsylvania branch of the Humane Society of the United States, has seen enough animal cruelty to last a lifetime, and as she told WHTM News:

“There have been animals that are actually frozen to the ground.

The animals are coming in because of damage to their paws and because of bleeding paws and because of frostbite, hypothermia, and even death in situations.”

Pet owners, especially dog owners, should take some precautions when the temperature gauge plummets.

Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter communications director Jennifer Vanderau has some suggestions:

“Your doghouse that you have should keep them dry. If it rains and that freezes, that’s awful.

Please make sure that they can get out of the elements and they can get into the dog house and not actually be rained on. Have it raised off the ground if you can.”

Vanderau says the shelter’s cruelty officer gets calls every winter about poor animals left outside in frigid weather, which is why the state passed this new portion of the Libre Law.

Tullo added that it’s a “monumental change for those dogs that were just left out tied to a tree basically a lawn ornament at that point.”

Pennsylvania residents can contact their county humane officer if they see dogs left outside in dangerous temperatures. If your county doesn’t have a humane officer, please call the local or state police.

Sometimes, the law has to protect our furry friends from negligent people.

No animal should ever have to freeze to death!

Source: WHTM News (ABC)

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