FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Safety Turtle breaks ground in pet drowning
prevention
Water safety alarm originally created for
children now adapted for pets and adopted by pet owners
Ottawa, ON –
Terrapin Communications, maker of Safety Turtle, today announced
the start of a pet drowning prevention campaign. The lockable
Turtle wristband was introduced in 1998 as a last layer of
protection of young children against aquatic injury. By popular
demand, a Turtle visor for seniors in aquatic physiotherapy and a
pet version followed. As a result, the company has set its sights
on making this lifesaving product more accessible to pet owners.
“Many
pet owners forget about the dangers that pools and other bodies of
water can present for their pets,” said
Bob Van Tongerloo, CEO
of the Canadian
Federation of Humane Societies.
“CFHS
believes that the Safety Turtle offers pet owners an option to
protect their pets from drowning accidents while relaxing at home
and exploring near waterways away from home. CFHS applauds Terrapin
for recognizing the need for a product that helps keep all members
of the family safe near water.”
Pools
and Pets
Though largely
unreported, accidental drowning of a pet in the family pool is
common. “Both the numbers and the circumstances of the pet drowning
stories I’ve been getting over 5 years leave me in no doubt about
this,” said Bob Lyons, President of Terrapin and inventor of
Safety Turtle. With a growing pet population
– there are roughly
58 million dogs and 62 million cats in North America
– and approximately
450,000 new pools per year, accidental pet drowning will continue to
rise unless something changes. Action is long overdue.”
Although healthy dogs and cats have an innate ability to swim short
distances, escape from a pool may be a life and death struggle.
Barking is sometimes difficult once the dog is in the water. The
untrained animal instinctively heads for the closest edge of the
pool and tries to claw its way out. Panic quickly leads to
exhaustion. While animals can be trained to go the shallow end, if
they exist, the steps may be too high for a smaller animal.
Vinyl-liner pools offer no grip to the animal, and often include
only a vertical ladder, which is nearly impossible for most pets to
climb. Builders are routinely called to repair foot-long holes
through pool liners at the waterline caused by a front paw of the
owner’s canine.
“When the solar cover is on a pool, it is one of the most
dangerous times for pets. They either fall on the cover, or try to
walk on it, and go under and can’t get back up,”
said
Gae Horrigan, dog and pool owner from LaMarque, Texas.
“We know first hand the heartbreak people experience when they lose
a pet to drowning. It’s like losing your child. Today, having the
Safety Turtle is our way of trying to make sure this will never
happen again to our beloved Westies, Duke and Tammy.”
Boats and Pets
Pet life jackets are selling in record numbers because pets
find so many ways to fall overboard when least expected. But,
depending on water temperature and visibility, chances of rescue may
be small unless someone sees the pet fall in.
About
Safety Turtle for pets
The Safety Turtle
system for pets consists of a small, color-coded Turtle sensor that
attaches to the pet’s collar, and a Base Station. When the pet
falls or ventures into the water, an ear piercing alarm is instantly
sounded at the house [or boat] from the Base Station – allowing the
owner to immediately respond to the distressed animal. One Base
Station works with any number of pets having the same color of
Turtle sensor. Rain or ground moisture doesn’t set off the alarm.
For more information, please visit
www.safetyturtle.com
ncorporated
in Canada in 1998, Terrapin Communications is the sole owner and
manufacturer of Safety Turtle.
