PETA Offers Free Neutering for ‘Lion Dog’ to Help Curb Canine-Overpopulation Crisis in Hampton Roads

Breeding Is Responsible for Animal Homelessness, Suffering, and Death

For Immediate Release:
June 3, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA wants the “lion dog’s” new litter of puppies to be his last. In a letter sent this morning to Daniel Painter—the guardian of Charles the Monarch, the Labradoodle who caused a stir last year when his lion-styled haircut led neighbors to mistake him for an actual lion on the loose—PETA offers to provide free spaying and neutering surgeries to Painter’s dogs: Charles; Samantha, the female Labradoodle he was recently bred with; and their puppies.

“Every year, tens of thousands of dogs and cats end up in Hampton Roads animal shelters and others end up suffering on the streets because people fail to ‘fix’ their animals,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on Charles’ guardians to help out by doing the right thing and letting us ‘snip’ these dogs before even more puppies are born into a world that already doesn’t have enough good homes to go around.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Daniel Painter follows.

June 3, 2014

Daniel Painter

Dear Mr. Painter,

I’m writing on behalf of PETA to offer you free spay or neuter surgeries for your dogs, Charles and Samantha, and all their puppies.

There is a dog and cat overpopulation crisis in this country. Every year, 6 to 8 million animals end up in animal shelters, and approximately half of them must be euthanized because there simply aren’t enough homes for them all. Thousands of other unwanted dogs and cats live on the streets, where they often fall victim to traffic, abuse from unkind people, attacks by other animals, disease, or starvation. People who fail to “fix” their animals and those who buy from breeders and pet stores are responsible for much of this suffering.

With all the sweet, affectionate dogs waiting in animal shelters for good homes—about 25 percent of whom are purebreds—there is no reason to breed more animals. Even Wally Conron, the person considered responsible for setting off the “designer dog” craze by breeding the first “Labradoodle,” has recently spoken out against bringing more of these dogs into the world, reminding people that “there are a lot of unhealthy and abandoned dogs out there.” He also said that “instead of breeding out the problems, they’re breeding them in,” referring to the many genetic disorders that purebred and “designer” dogs are prone to. The bottom line is that every purposely bred puppy goes to a home that a dog waiting in an animal shelter could have gone to. Spaying or neutering just one animal can, over the long term, prevent the births of thousands of animals in a world that has far too few good homes to go around.

Please contact me so that I can arrange free spay and neuter appointments for all your dogs at one of our mobile spay-neuter clinics in the Hampton Roads area. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President