The purpose of the demo at the Birmingham NEC, collectively organised by grassroots campaigners, was to pass on two very important messages to the public.

1. Breeding unhealthy dog's for aesthetic purposes is morally wrong.

2. Breeding dogs is pointless when there are existing dogs all over the world needing homes.

As Ronnie Lee said in an earlier report:

ALL dog breeding is a problem

There is a sense in which all breeding of dogs by human beings is morally unacceptable.

All dogs are descended from the wolf and we only have domestic dogs because human beings, for their own selfish purposes (mainly to kill other animals) deliberately bred wolves in a selective fashion in order to create all the different shapes and sizes of dogs we have today.

It could therefore be argued that we are morally obliged to cease the breeding of dogs, while at the same time doing our utmost to protect wolves in the wild and to preserve their habitat. As long as we have the wolf, the dog will not die out, as they are essentially the same species.

In addition, it is surely also morally unacceptable to deliberately or negligently breed dogs (no matter how kindly the breeder might be) in a situation where many thousands of dogs are being "put down" every year because no homes are available for them.

Alice Walker's words (from her book "The Color Purple") that "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites, or women for men" are just as much applicable to dogs/wolves as they are to any other animal.

That is not to say, of course, that we should not try to help dogs that have already been bred, in order to save them from death and suffering.

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Links

'Pedigree Dogs Exposed
 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44215931

PETA's Kennel club spoof
 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rxAaK0iJ2vQ&feature=related

Independent article
 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-big-question-is-the-breeding-of-pedigree-dogs-leading-to-cruel-abnormalities-902853.html

Animal Rights Calendar listing
 http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=30