PETA Protests Crufts Pedigree Dog Show, Holding Posters Reading ‘Hitler Would Be Proud’

For Immediate Release:
11 March 2010

Contact:
Sam Glover 020 7357 9229, ext. 229; [email protected]

Birmingham – Holding posters that read, “Hitler Would Be Proud”, protesters today converged outside the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham to denounce the British Kennel Club and Crufts for promoting the breeding of dogs to achieve a “pure bloodline” or “master pedigree” at the cost of dogs’ health. The posters featured a pedigree dog who has the end of a black comb strategically placed across his upper lip to make it look like he has an Adolf Hitler-like moustache. The caption on the posters read, “Master Race? Wrong for People. Wrong for Dogs. Boycott Breeders. Adopt”.

Pedigree dogs often face a range of health problems – including epilepsy, heart disease and hip dysplasia – that are handed down through generations of inbreeding. These conditions often cause extreme discomfort to dogs and sometimes result in their premature deaths. Meanwhile, a growing overpopulation crisis is forcing local authorities to euthanise thousands of dogs every year and leave thousands more to languish in animal shelters.

Every year, breeders sentence to death thousands of dogs who live on the street or in animal shelters because there are not enough good homes for them. Every time a dog is purchased from a breeder or a pet shop, a homeless dog loses his or her chance at finding a loving new home.

“In the race to produce purebred dogs, breeders are moving unwittingly towards creating a Frankenstein’s monster of a dog”, says PETA’s Poorva Joshipura. “The end result will be not only a more genetically impaired animal but also hundreds and hundreds more homeless animals put to death for the ‘crime’ of being mutts.”

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals withdrew its support of Crufts because, as it states on its website, the approach to such shows “actively encourages both the breeding of deformed and disabled dogs and the inbreeding of closely related animals. This is morally and ethically unjustifiable.”

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