PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is marking the end of 2019 with its first annual roundup of kind people who went out of their way to help animals in dangerous predicaments this year — and Mission’s Tanya Krasuin is one of them.
Krasuin has been named one of PETA’s Top Animal Rescuers for her heroic rescue of a skunk whose head was stuck in a plastic cup.
In March, Krasuin spotted the skunk outside her home — and video footage shows her tugging at the cup until the skunk was able to pull free and run off to safety.
READ MORE: Mission woman frees skunk
“People keep asking me if I was afraid of getting sprayed,” Krasuin told PETA. “No! I did what I had to do to save an animal from suffocating. I think any person would do the same.”
“If it weren’t for Tanya Krasuin’s selfless intervention, this little skunk could have starved or suffocated,” said PETA vice-president Tracy Reiman.
“All of PETA’s top rescuers are setting an example of the right way to treat animals in the new year and beyond.”
PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” — asks everyone to keep an eye out for animals in need and to alert authorities if the situation can’t be easily resolved.
Being a hero to animals can be as simple as encouraging a neighbor to take their chained dog indoors, freeing an animal stuck in fishing line or a discarded container, or adopting an animal companion from a shelter.
Krasuin will receive an award certificate; a PETA 2020 Rescued Calendar; Merry-Mint Cocoa and Mug Gift Set; a reusable, collapsible straw from FinalStraw; and a box of Divine Treasures’ Divine Kingdom vegan chocolates.
