PETA Statement: Fresno State’s Live Bulldog Mascot Was Born to Suffer

For Immediate Release:
April 14, 2023

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Below, please find a statement from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in response to news that Fresno State will swear in a new live bulldog mascot—a breathing-impaired breed—on Sunday:

“Shame on Fresno State for forcing a breathing-impaired breed with a grotesquely flat face to choke, cough, gag, and suffer in the sweltering heat as its “mascot.” If the university’s athletes suffered from deformed windpipes, they’d lose every game—and some of them would lose their lives from exertion. Continuing this trend will only inspire more people to support cruel breeders, and PETA reminds Fresno State that the “Passing of the Collar Ceremony” involves passing on debilitating deformities to dogs who can’t enjoy happy or healthy lives and urges the school to switch to a costumed human.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.