John 5 of Mötley Crüe and his dog are tapping into the spirit of the times with the new PETA campaign “Always Adopt! Never Buy”

For immediate release:
28 August 2024

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Los Angeles –

Guitar virtuoso John 5 is an expert when it comes to good licks – and he explains that the preferably those come from adopted dogs, in a new Campaign for PETA. Ahead of his upcoming solo tour, the rock icon is performing alongside his loving rescue dog Churro, urging everyone to adopt dogs and cats from shelters and never buy animals from pet stores or from breeders who release litter after litter of puppies and kittens into a world already bursting at the seams with homeless people.

In an accompanying video spot, John 5 tells how his family adopted Churro – a hairless Chinese Crested Dog mix – after he was abandoned as a puppy and left in a crate in the desert.

“It is heartbreaking to even think about it. We had “We decided to get Churro – there were no ifs, ands or buts,” John 5 says in the video. “We were lucky enough to adopt him and he is just the best. … We literally can’t go anywhere without him – he is always with us. He is just part of the family.”

Churro’s story highlights the fact that virtually any breed of dog can be found at a shelter or through a breed-specific rescue group. With roughly 70 million homeless dogs and cats in the U.S. at any given time, shelters across the country have been overcrowded for years. Some shelters with misguided policies warehouse dogs for months or even years and turn animals away, leaving the most vulnerable animals with nowhere to go—and those that reproduce worsen the pet overpopulation crisis. That’s why PETA is urging shelters to take in all animals in need, advising owners to have their animal companions spayed or neutered, and asking everyone to adopt animals instead of buying them from breeders or pet stores.

John 5 is part of a long list of celebrities – including Kathy Griffin, Lisa Ann Walter, Ron Perlman, Tom Hardy, John Stamos, Ryan Eggold, Theo RossiAnd Cristin Milioti– who have partnered with PETA to promote adoption.

PETA – whose motto is, among other things, “Animals are not there to be mistreated in any way” –points out Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, see PETA.org or follow the group on X, on facebook.or Instagram.