Photos: ‘Evil Scientists’ Protest Crufts Dog Show

For Immediate Release:
8 March 2019

Contact:
Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

PHOTOS: ‘EVIL SCIENTISTS’ PROTEST CRUFTS DOG SHOW

PETA Highlights Pedigree Breeders’ Cruelty to Dogs

Birmingham – With Crufts – the world’s largest dog show – in full swing in Birmingham, a group of PETA supporters dressed as evil scientists gathered in the city centre today holding signs proclaiming, “Breeding Pedigree Dogs Is Mad Science” and “Crufts Is a Frankenstein Show.” The action serves as a reminder that the dogs displayed at the event are bred by humans to have ridiculous, exaggerated physical features that can have devastating health consequences.

Images are also available here, here, and here.

“Breeders’ obsession with arbitrary physical characteristics causes dogs to suffer from painful and crippling genetic defects,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “Crufts is a twisted celebration of genetically manipulated animals who have difficulty breathing or walking, and PETA encourages everyone who cares about dogs to steer clear of it.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – notes that breeding pedigree dogs in abnormal shapes and sizes leaves them genetically predisposed to suffering from epilepsy, heart disease, deafness, hip dysplasia, and numerous other health problems. Many bulldogs, pugs, Pekingese, and other brachycephalic (flat-faced) dogs can’t breathe well – let alone go for a walk or chase a ball without gasping for air – because of their unnaturally shortened airways.

Crufts also exacerbates the homeless-dog overpopulation crisis by encouraging people to dash out and buy the latest “must-have” breed that they saw on television, while rescue centres burst at the seams with lovable dogs waiting for someone to take them home.

Last year, two activists carrying signs reading, “Crufts = Canine Eugenics,” rushed the main floor at Crufts as judges announced the “Best in Show” winner.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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