Kategorie: Animals

English bulldogs don’t consent to being sexually abused by breeders in order to produce yet another generation of deformed dogs with pushed-in faces who can barely breathe. That’s why PETA is calling on Charles Seiler—the breeder of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) English bulldog mascot, Uga—to stop breeding these dogs, who can’t breathe easily enough to run, play, chase a ball, or otherwise enjoy a normal life, and we’re asking kind people everywhere not to support this reckless, abusive practice and never to buy a breathing-impaired dog.

English bulldogs are intentionally bred to have deformities that cause labored breathing, snorting, coughing, gagging, vomiting, and collapsing. Uga likely suffers every day of his life—just like his predecessors. Uga VI died of congestive heart failure at 9 years old, Uga VII died of a heart attack at only 4 years old, and Uga VIII died of lymphoma before he reached 17 months of age. Breeding dogs to look a certain way and endure a lifetime of suffering is nothing to celebrate on game day or at any other time.

Is Bulldog Breeding a Form of Bestiality?

As a result of repeated, selective breeding for specific features, most bulldogs’ hips are now too narrow to allow them to mate, so breeding them requires forcible insemination—in other words, they’re being sexually manipulated and assaulted. When a breeder uses their finger or a syringe to force semen into a dog’s vagina or performs sexual acts on dogs to force ejaculation and encourage or facilitate breeding, they’re engaging in what may constitute a form of bestiality—the sexual abuse of animals—in many states.

Urge UGA to Replace Uga With a Willing Human Mascot

Breeding bulldogs and other breathing-impaired breeds has been banned in other countries because their grotesquely flattened faces cause them to struggle to walk, play, and breathe—a leading cause of their deaths. Using Uga as UGA’s mascot drives up the demand for more bulldogs and rewards breeders for continuing to sexually abuse and forcibly impregnate these flat-faced, breathing-impaired animals.

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PETA believes that those defending the University of Georgia’s (UGA) live bulldog mascot program will change their minds after watching a shocking new video the group is releasing today that shows how bulldogs like Uga are so deformed that almost without exception, the females are forcibly inseminated and the males are sexually stimulated by invasive human hands, which may well constitute a form of bestiality (defined as the sexual abuse of an animal) in many states.

The video reveals how purposely breeding bulldogs to obtain certain features has left them with hips too narrow to mate or give birth naturally, so breeders forcibly inseminate them by stimulating the males to ejaculation, then placing their fingers into the females’ vulvas and using syringes to inject semen into their uteruses. Breeding bulldogs and other breathing-impaired breeds (BIB) has also been banned in some countries because their grotesquely flattened faces cause them to struggle to walk, play, and breathe—a leading cause of their deaths.

“UGA’s mascot program is driving up the demand for dogs who can barely breathe or breed naturally, and people who are defending it are unaware of those two facts,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is calling on everyone who cares about Uga to watch the video, listen, and learn about this manipulated breed and then urge the university to stop sentencing more dogs to groping by human hands and short lives of gasping for air.”

PETA also sent a letter today to Charles Seiler, Uga’s breeder, urging him to stop breeding bulldogs, noting that a recent PETA investigation caught a worker at a pet store that sells English bulldogs explaining that there’s no lifetime warranty on BIBs because of the serious health issues that they inevitably suffer from. Uga VI died of congestive heart failure, Uga VII died of a heart attack, and Uga VIII died of lymphoma when he was less than a year and a half old. But breeders continue to produce English bulldogs and other BIBs despite these well-known health issues—and even though around 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

Why would education organizations, fiscal policy advocates, human rights activists, and animal rights groups come together to end horse racing subsidies in New York? PETA, a member of the Coalition to End Horse Racing Subsidies, is here to tell you.

New York state props up horse racing with $230 million in subsidies every year. Now, if Gov. Kathy Hochul gets her way, there will be even more state support for the deadly horse racing industry.

The Recent Scoop on Horse Racing Subsidies in New York

In 2022, key legislators and the Coalition to End Horse Racing Subsidies—which PETA began in 2021—successfully defeated a bill that would have guaranteed that New York state backed a $455 million loan to the racing industry to build a new clubhouse and other renovations at Belmont Park.

If the legislation had passed, the state would have had to pay the lender if the New York Racing Association (NYRA) had defaulted on the loan from a private lender.

The coalition immediately got in touch with key legislators and defeated that bill. But Gov. Hochul, who doesn’t seem to care that more horses die at Belmont Park than at any other track in New York, has shamefully added an appalling measure to her 2023 budget.

She proposed that the state lend the $455 million directly to NYRA for the Belmont renovation and that the loan would be repaid with state racing subsidies—yes, those very subsidies our bills seek to end. The coalition is meeting with reporters, and critics are speaking out.

NYRA’s promise that a renovation would mean more jobs and fans is a fantasy: Attendance at Belmont is down a staggering 88% since 1978. The stands are empty. NYRA hasn’t even made enough profit to pay its annual franchise fee to the state in more than a decade.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in state subsidies have failed to make racing popular, and adding another half-billion dollars would be throwing good money after bad. It’s a dying industry.

The Horse Racing Industry Exploits Animals, Taxpayers, and Employees

Horses forced to race face health and injury risks, a life of confinement and physical exhaustion, and often a cruel death once they’re no longer considered profitable. Because they’re made to start training or are already racing while their skeletal structures are still developing, their bodies aren’t suited to the pressures of running on hard tracks at high speeds.

Many horses are drugged, stressed, injured, and eventually killed at a slaughterhouse.

Although the horses used and abused by this industry endure its cruelest and most direct exploitation, humans are also taken advantage of. About $1 billion in taxpayer funds over the course of four years will be funneled into horse racing in New York alone. This is due to the $3 billion in New York casino revenue supporting that industry and causing the steep increase in subsidies. The state’s residents—not its 11 Thoroughbred and harness tracks—should be the recipients of that massive income.

Additionally, New York must be held accountable for failing to question or verify the horse racing industry’s ridiculous claims regarding its workforce potential and beneficial economic impact.

On top of that, horse racing’s labor fines—for trainers who steal the wages of their own employees—have hit the millions in the past few years, making it all the more vital to review and end these subsidies.

The True Cost Explained by the Coalition to End Horse Racing Subsidies

The coalition is educating legislators, too. Recently, we created damning informational panels that were exhibited at the New York State Capitol in Albany. But horse racing backers were so upset by the facts we presented that they had our exhibit removed.

That didn’t stop us. We printed all the information on the panels and gave a copy to every state assembly member and senator.

Take Action to Help Horses Used in the Racing Industry Now

Please take action below—based on where you live—to urge your representatives to support our bill to end horse racing subsidies in New York.

And don’t miss the concise argument against horse racing subsidies that we printed and had delivered to every legislator in Albany.

If you reside in New York state, click just below for the best way to make a difference:

If you live outside of New York state, click below: