Activists Arrested for Pouncing on Westminster’s Big Moment With Call to End ‘Torture Breeding’
For Immediate Release:
May 14, 2024
Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-6372
Earlier this evening, three PETA supporters were arrested after protesting the “Best in Show” presentation at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show to call on attendees to stop breeding and buying dogs from breeders, which exacerbates the homeless-animal overpopulation crisis and causes dogs to have health problems that result in lifelong suffering.
PETA notes that most, if not all, “top” dog breeds suffer from numerous ailments because of generations of selective breeding. These include pugs, bulldogs, and other breathing-impaired breeds with intentionally flattened faces and distorted airways that leave them struggling for every breath. A number of countries—including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway—now restrict or prohibit the breeding of such dogs, who are victims of what they refer to as “torture breeding.” Germany recently proposed a ban on breeding dogs with “skeletal anomalies”—including dachshunds, whose long spines and stubby legs often result in herniated discs and other painful back and joint problems that require surgery or are fatal.
“The Westminster Dog Show glorifies the breeding of deformed and disabled animals,” says PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA urges everyone to avoid this archaic canine beauty pageantry and asks those looking to give dogs a loving home never to buy from a breeder and to adopt a dog from their local shelter.”
Large-scale breeding farms, puppy-mill brokers, auctioneers, and pet store owners all cash in on the demand for purebred puppies, who are produced en masse after a Best in Show win. Breeding any dog also contributes to the companion animal overpopulation crisis, in which around 70 million cats and dogs are homeless in the U.S. at any given time.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
