‘Caged’ PETA Supporters to Protest Westminster Dog Show

Attendees Will Be Called On to Give Shelter Dogs a Second Chance at Life

For Immediate Release:
February 13, 2015

Contact:
Sophia Charchuk 202-483-7382

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show attendees will have a surprise in store on the first day of the event, as a throng of PETA supporters gathers outside in cramped cages—wearing dog masks and holding signs proclaiming, “Shelter Dogs Lose Today”—to protest the show, which continues to encourage breeding unhealthy purebred dogs while 6 to 8 million homeless animals end up in shelters every year, half of whom have to be euthanized for lack of good homes.

Where:           Piers 92/94, 711 12^th Ave., at 55^th Street and West Side Highway, New York

When:             Monday, February 16, 12 p.m.

“Celebrating the breeders who contribute to the homeless animal overpopulation crisis sentences millions of dogs to death,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is asking kind people with the time, willingness, and resources to care for a companion animal to save a life by heading to their local shelter.”

PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way,” encourages people who care about animals to avoid dog pageants, which promote dog breeding and drive interest in “purebreds” while animal shelters overflow with mutts and purebred dogs. Breeding for appearances also wreaks havoc on animals’ health, as inbreeding causes painful and life-threatening genetic defects in purebred dogs.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.