Victory! Ojai Is First U.S. City to Ban Breeding of French Bulldogs and Other Breathing-Impaired Dogs and Cats

For Immediate Release:
October 22, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

After months of input from PETA’s Cruelty Investigations Department, Mayor Betsy Stix and the Ojai City Council voted today to adopt a groundbreaking new law—the Companion Animal Protection Ordinance—which makes Ojai the first city in the U.S. to ban what many European countries describe as “torture breeding”: the purposeful breeding of animals to have deformed bodies and extreme features that cause them a lifetime of suffering. The ban will protect breathing-impaired breeds (BIB)—such as French bulldogs, English bulldogs, pugs, boxers, and Boston terriers, as well as Persian cats—who suffer from a multitude of health issues due to their smushed faces and shortened, distorted, and restricted airways, most notably a constant struggle just to breathe, which is apparent in the panting, snorting, and wheezing common among them, and placing these animals under surgical anesthesia is dangerous.

The Companion Animal Protection Ordinance will also protect other breeds, such as Dachshunds, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, and Scottish Fold cats that suffer from a wide array of painful and debilitating health issues like intervertebral disc disease, syringomyelia, and osteochondrodysplasia, all for the sake of aesthetics.

“Ojai city leaders are protecting animals by preventing breeding them to suffer for a lifetime due to painful deformities,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA thanks Mayor Betsy Stix and the city council for their commitment to preventing abusive breeding practices and urges everyone never to buy a breathing-impaired dog or cat and to always adopt companion animals from shelters.”

“I’m thrilled that Ojai is setting a new national standard for protecting dogs and cats from being bred to suffer. Our companion animals are cherished members of our families and our communities, so I hope that this inspires other cities around the country to adopt Companion Animal Protection Ordinances of their own,” says Stix.

“For many years, we have normalized the enormous suffering caused by extreme body shapes in many species of companion animals. This suffering is as severe as that inflicted by physical abuse, and Ojai has made the right decision in choosing to no longer tolerate it,” says Dr. Emma Milne, FRCVS, founder of the international organization Vets Against Brachycephalism, which represents veterinarians from 66 countries worldwide.

A recent study revealed that some of the most common BIB canines have the shortest life expectancies of companion dog breeds. French bulldogs—who have been the most popular dog in the U.S. for the past two years—have a shockingly low life expectancy of only 4.5 years due in large part to their deformed, smushed-in faces. A number of countries—including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway—have banned or restricted the breeding of some or all BIBs.

PETA notes that the Ojai City Council has previously passed ordinances recognizing the bodily rights of elephants and banning the use and sale of glue traps.

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.