Breeding 'Pure' Bloodlines and Master Pedigrees While Pound Pups Die Makes the AKC a Ku Klux Klan for Dogs
For Immediate Release:
June 6, 2008
Contact:
Melissa Karpel 757-622-7382
Quincy, Mass. - Holding signs that read, "The AKC is the KKK for Animals," PETA members will protest in Quincy on Sunday outside a meeting of delegates and directors of the American Kennel Club (AKC). PETA's point? It's cruel and irresponsible to promote bloodline dog breeding and spur interest in "purebreds" while animal shelters overflow with unwanted mutts who are dying for lack of good homes. Protestors will show video from a PETA TV spot that shows a KKK member making himself right at home at an AKC meeting. (Click here to view.) The ad has aired in various cities, coinciding with AKC-sponsored dog shows:
Date: Sunday, June 8
Time: 12 noon-1 p.m.
Place: Boston Marriott Quincy, 1200 Marriott Dr., Quincy
For every dog or cat purchased from a breeder or a pet store, an animal awaiting adoption in an animal shelter loses his or her chance of finding a loving home. And because breeders and pet stores almost never require that the animals that they sell be sterilized, many of those animals will have litters of their own--creating even more unwanted animals. Nearly 8 million animals--many of them purebreds--are abandoned at animal shelters every year in the U.S., and about 4 million of them must be euthanized for lack of good homes. The AKC not only promotes breeding but also vigorously opposes lifesaving spay-and-neuter legislation designed to combat the animal overpopulation crisis and reduce euthanasia rates.
"When it comes to contempt for 'mixed breeds' and an obsession with 'pure bloodlines,' the KKK and the AKC have a lot in common," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "All dogs should be created equal, yet millions of wonderful dogs in animal shelters across the country are paying with their lives because of purebred supremacy."
http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=11510