So you diehards out there that still support breeding in one fashion or another (lip service in particular), listen up.
Wednesday March 11, ABC's Nightline aired a terrific piece they headed, "Best in Show: Quest for Perfection." Reporter Nick Watt focused on the inbreeding and illness of pure bred dogs, encouraged by the big dog shows such as Westminster.
We learn about bulldogs, for example, whose snouts, "smashed like a coke can," make breathing difficult. We are told that most bulldogs cannot mate or give birth naturally and need to be artificially inseminated and birthed via c-sections. We find out that many Dalmatians cannot urinate properly, and that flat coated retrievers have a high incidence of cancer.
Nightline tells us that documentary on the issue in Britain had such an impact that the BBC stopped televising Crufts, the world's largest dog show, about which a veterinarian commented:"When I watch Crufts, what I see in front of me is a parade of mutants."Watts tells us that American Kennel Club representatives refused to be interviewed for his Nightline report. Let's hope it too has some impact. You can watch it on line at: http://tinyurl.com/clpz24
Or you can read the story at http://www.nppmwatch.com/ When you've finished, let me know what your thoughts are.
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4 comments:
The show NOVA did an episode not that long ago on this problem
And behold. Interviewed in the article is AKC breeder Charlotte McGowan, (NAIA member, ardent puppy mill supporter, and lieutenant of Patti Strand, who is an AKC puppy mill pusher on the AKC board http://www.sourcewatch.org
/index.php?title=Patti_Strand.
Breeders Strand and McGowan have been pushing the "overpopulation is a myth" from before Nathan Winograd took some of their lines)
Yes, the same breeder lobbyists NAIA that Nathan Winograd is getting pushed by.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/
nova/transcripts/3103_dogs.
html
or do a google search for "dog breeds nova mcgowan" It will be called Dogs and More Dogs, Nova
McGowan admits readily how AKC purebred dog breeding creates health and behavior nightmares, and backs up the criticisms of the scientists
"Inbreeding is the only way to finely control what the next generation will look like, but it comes with a well-documented downside. Here's why.
Sometimes a gene that helps produce something good, say the shape of a dog's ears, is located on a dog's DNA close to another gene that produces something bad, like a disease. When that happens, there's a good chance any pup getting the good gene will also get the bad one.
Now, as long as the pup gets a healthy version of the gene from the other parent, he should be all right. But inbred dogs have a much greater chance of getting the same bad gene from both parents"
More from that Nova show on dog breeding
"Once primarily working animals, dogs today are mostly pets. They're frequently chosen more for what they look like than what they can do or how they behave. But a preoccupation with appearance is not without consequences. All purebred dogs are products of intensive breeding, and every year more and more of them suffer from an ever-growing list of genetic diseases.
Interestingly, the disease problem and the dog's elevated place in our lives can both be traced to Victorian England. A growing middle class, looking for ways to show they've arrived, mimic the rich by bringing into their homes unproductive animals."
These animals are badges of wealth, a declaration that the owner is rich enough to keep and feed an idle pet. Like lavishly appointed homes, dogs are status symbols. But as more and more people can afford them, some way has to be found to anoint a few with the mantle of aristocracy. So the dog show is born, a competition that's soon restricted to purebred animals. And since few if any of these dogs herd or hunt, their quality is judged solely on appearance.
JAMES SERPELL: And that's when you get bizarre and somewhat eccentric groups of middle class people focusing their lives on breeding perfect animals in particular breeds.
NARRATOR: In this world, ideas about status, competition, and the importance of parentage and bloodlines quickly become inextricably combined.
JAMES SERPELL: The idea of pure blood and breeding pure strains of things coincided, of course, with a lot of racist talk about refining the purity of human groups and races. And the breed literature from this early period, some of it is unashamedly eugenicist and racist.
NARRATOR: And the legacy endures: a preoccupation with bloodlines and appearance. In the show ring, only purebred dogs are allowed to compete, and they're judged on how closely they match a written description of perfection, called the breed "standard."
Patti Strand is a Dalmatian breeder
For how long have dalmatians been a mess?
But there Patti is on the board of AKC, Ms. Large Volume Breeder Committee Chair, hooking up the business with Hunte Corporation, the puppy mill broker, and the puppy mill breeders
And lobbying against any kind of regulations of puppy mills, breeders, spay neuter legislation, anything, to protect those mills.
Sounds like Nathan Winograd, eh?
Did you notice in tht ABC piece that the reporter said that AKC pulled out of the interview, and then all the breeders emailed each other to warn each other?
That's what they do to oppose puppy mill legislation, anti-chaining laws, EVERYTHING.
They all get together to spread the lies, and they prop up some kind of token expert, like Winograd, to back up their propaganda with more propaganda.
The AKC also neglected to mention that they spend millions of dollars on professional lobbyists to oppose humane laws.
And that the puppy mill registration money is what is paying for those dog shows.
Talk about supporting bad breeding and diseased purebreds!
And even with all this info, there's gonna be comments as to what does this have to do with "No Kill"? It is a tool to destroy credibility of the breeders who speak up for the Whino as well as a mark against him period.
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