Whether it’s a simple weekend hiking trip or a whole out-of-town vacation, taking your pets when you go and travel can add a new level of fun! With the pet industry growing and growing, there are now pet products for several areas and purposes, including travel!
There is a multitude of supplies and products that promise safe traveling for pets. Though, how can you be sure that those claims are valid?
Those exact worries are what made Lindsay Wolko establish the Center for Pet Safety.
Lindsay founded this non-profit research and advocacy organization years ago after a traumatic experience. She, along with her dog, Maggie, was involved in a crash. The travel harness she bought for her pet did nothing to protect her from the accident.
“That moment was so filled with trauma for both Maggie and me. I started investigating the pet product industry. I joined the industry. We did a pilot study on travel products for pets back in 2010… did some crash testing. We wanted to see if these products actually did what the manufacturer claimed they do. And that’s kinda how we got started.”
Concerns about Pet Safety during Travel
Lindsay expressed her frustrations about the pet industry. She claims that it is highly unregulated.
She used travel-related products to reiterate her point.
“People don’t even know who they’re buying from when they buy them through social media. So you find them in big-box retail stores, major like Amazon products, everywhere. And pet owners just simply should not use them.”
Buying travel-related pet products such as harnesses, crates, and carriers without adequately researching the brand is dangerous. According to Lindsay, pet owners should always be cautious and on high alert when purchasing pet products in general.
“The pet industry is literally the wild, wild west.”
There are hundreds of low-cost, cheap items that can be hazardous to pets. Seeing a product at a big-name retail store is not an automatic guarantee that they are safe and effective. Typically, the cheaper ones warrant the most suspicion.
The packaging and brand sell a false sense of security that can potentially lead to life-threatening consequences. The absence of safety standards in the pet industry and the traumatic experience she had with an incompetent pet product pushed Lindsay to do something.
Hence, the birth of the Center for Pet Safety.
No More False Sense of Security With Center For Pet Safety
The Center for Pet Safety is a US-based non-profit organization that authored the first safety standards in the pet products industry. They launched a certification program, conducted rigorous crash testing on various pet-travel products, and helped counsel pet product manufacturers worldwide.
“Learning about what it takes actually to contain, restrain a pet in a crash has been our mission to make sure that pet owners are safe and that the pets are protected as best as we can.”
The CPS made it their goal to work on behalf of pet owners across the globe to solve complicated problems that affect the safety and well-being of pets.
If you are looking for travel products for your pets, you can visit their official website. They have a CPS-certified tab that lists all the products and brands that passed their strict testing.
Being a non-profit organization, the Center for Pet Safety accepts and relies on donations, grants, and sponsorships to further its efforts and mission.
CPS invites you to help them save lives, both pets and humans!
If you want to help Center for Pet Safety in achieving this goal, visit their website at https://www.centerforpetsafety.org/
