Crufts Dog Show Faces Flack From PETA Over Flat-Faced Breeds
Crufts Dog Show Faces Flack From PETA Over Flat-Faced Breeds
Birmingham – Ahead of Crufts, the world’s largest dog show, PETA sent a letter to Kennel Club Chairman Tony Allcock OBE calling on the organisation to disqualify pugs, Pekingese, French bulldogs, and other brachycephalic breeds from the competition.
In the letter (available here), the group points out that the Kennel Club’s grotesque standards encourage breeding vulnerable flat-faced dogs for physical deformities and cites a recent study by the Royal Veterinary College that found some of these breeds can no longer be classified as “normal dogs” due to their health irregularities. A recent court ruling in Norway recognised that these dogs suffer severely and should no longer be bred, and the Netherlands is now preparing to ban ownership of and advertisements featuring these animals to address the cruelty of producing dogs with unnatural features that cause severe health problems.
“The Kennel Club must realise that the tide is turning and take a stand against promoting dogs who spend their lives in misery,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA is calling on the organisation to keep flat-faced breeds out of Crufts and encourages everyone to avoid this superficial breeding fiasco by adopting animals from shelters.”
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Contact:
Jennifer White +44 207-837-6327; [email protected]
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