Three or four people contact the group Prevent Pet Suffocation every week with a tragic new instance of a pet dying from suffocation in a bag, founder Bonnie Harlan told "Today."
Harlan, 61, went through it herself in 2011, when her own beloved dog, Blue, died after getting his head stuck in a snack bag.
"It was just so devastating," said Harlan, but she went on to found the group to raise awareness and help other pet owners going through the same thing.
The dangers of animal suffocation were highlighted this week in a Facebook post by Christina Young, who wrote that her beloved dog Petey died after getting into a chip bag left on her counter. It was shared more than 370,000 times.
A representative for the American Veterinary Medical Association said he hasn't seen solid data about the prevelance of pets dying from suffocation in bags but agrees with Harlan that it's smart to keep bags securely away from pets.
