Pugs Can’t Breathe, Warns PETA India in New Campaign
For Immediate Release:
06 March 2023
Contact:
Hiraj Laljani; [email protected]
Radhika Suryavanshi; [email protected]
Pune – As pugs remain one of the most popular dog breeds in India, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India is erecting a series of sky-high warnings across the country to inform the public that foreign brachycephalic (flat-faced) dogs like pugs struggle to breathe and to urge everyone never to buy them. Dogs bred for short noses and flattened faces often require surgery for serious breathing problems. The billboards will appear in Chandigarh, Kochi, Lucknow, and Pune.
A copy of the billboard is available upon request.
The billboard in Pune is located above Cafe Finale, Shop no 10, Shanti Plaza, Fergusson College Road, Ganeshwadi, Deccan Gymkhana, Pune, Maharashtra 411004.
“We all know that pugs look like they cannot breathe, as they huff and heave with their tongues hanging out, but that is because they genuinely have difficulty breathing because they have been bred for abnormal features,” says PETA India Campaigns Manager Radhika Suryavanshi. “PETA India is calling on everyone to stop buying dogs with debilitating deformities and to please adopt a desi dog in need from a shelter.”
Pugs, popularised by Vodafone commercials, and other breathing-impaired breeds (BIB) like French and English bulldogs, pugs, Pekingese, Boston terriers, boxers, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, and shih tzus suffer from a debilitating and sometimes fatal condition called brachycephalic syndrome. This can make even going for a walk, chasing a ball, running, and playing – the things that make dogs’ lives joyful and fulfilling – difficult. That’s why PETA India has urged the Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Shri Parshottam Rupala to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing) Rules, 2017, to prohibit breeding these animals.
PETA India also warns that most pet shops and breeders are illegal, as they aren’t registered with their state animal welfare boards. They typically deprive dogs of proper veterinary care and adequate food, exercise, affection, and opportunities for socialisation – in addition to fuelling the animal overpopulation crisis. PETA India encourages those with the time, patience, love, and resources to welcome a dog into their home to adopt a desi dog, who has not been deliberately bred and who are known for their loving nature, from an animal shelter.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
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