For Immediate Release:
February 12, 2016
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
What do you get when you combine one of the most talked-about Super Bowl ads with this weekend’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show? The answer is PETA’s “PuppyMonkeyBaby” parody video, in which the made-up PuggyMonkeyBaby’s breeder explains, Best in Show–style, how the commercial star was born. “It’s just lots of inbred pugs,” he says. “Because that’s the name of the game with dog breeding, you know. It’s really just inbreeding. Keepin’ it in the family.”
On its website, PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points to the many health dangers associated with inbreeding dogs, including bulldogs, who often have to be artificially inseminated and give birth via cesarean section because their heads are too large and their hips are too small to give birth naturally. And Cavalier King Charles spaniels have been bred to have unnaturally shaped skulls, which can cause a condition called syringomyelia, in which brain tissue protrudes through the base of the too-small skull and causes intense pain for the dogs.
“PETA’s PuppyMonkeyBaby parody video points out that inbreeding dogs for exaggerated physical traits is just as grotesque as popping a monkey’s torso onto a baby’s legs,” says PETA Vice President Joel Bartlett. “While PuppyMonkeyBaby is a brilliant computer-generated creation for which no animals were harmed, real-life inbred pugs suffer from skin conditions, bone disease, and seizures just to satisfy purebred fanatics.”
Video of PETA supporters rushing the floor to protest the Westminster dog show in years past can be seen here.
More information about PETA’s opposition to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show is available here. PETA will be protesting again this year.
