If breeding from brothers and sisters, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and grandparents and grandchildren is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is. If the result that pugs, for example, are so inbred that, although there are ten thousand of them in Britain, there are in genetic terms only five hundred distinct individuals, is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is.
If the situation whereby fifty per cent of Cavalier King Charles spaniels have heart problems, and many have a truly horrific condition in which their brains are the wrong size, is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is.
If the fact that dachshunds, bull terriers, beagles, basset hounds and those German shepherd dogs bred for show are freakish, unhealthy parodies of what they ought to be, and used to be, is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is. (The German shepherds still used by the Police are the real, healthy ones, scorned by the world of dog shows.)
If the plight of most bulldogs, which now cannot mate without assistance and cannot give birth naturally, is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is.
If the destruction of newborn Rhodesian ridgeback puppies because they are perfectly healthy rather than having the mild form of spina bifida required by the "breed standard" is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is.
And so on, and on, and on.
Her Majesty, no less, must now decide. Patron of the RSPCA (even if it is an anti-hunting political party with charitable status)? Or Patron of the Kennel Club?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Great post.
ReplyDeleteWhile I sometimes enjoy watching dog shows on television, I always felt the world of the dog show was a superficial one. As you mentioned, the best examples of purebred dogs are the ones utilized for their original purpose. That is why I prefer the various "dog sports" to dog shows. I'd rather watch a German shepherd dog compete in a police test, or watch Newfoundland dogs in a water rescue competition, than watch a dog show.
"If breeding from brothers and sisters, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and grandparents and grandchildren is not cruelty to animals, then nothing is"
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, that is what its like on St Helena!
I don't know what you've been reading, then. One of the odd features of Saint Helena, for such a small place, is that such marriages are unheard of. But then, they also are in rural England, in my experience.
ReplyDeleteHowever, don't let that ruin your smug latte-swilling fantasies. Thank God that, if everything goes according to plan, the rest of us will soon have a newspaper. Now, when can we have a political party to go with it?
And then, who knows, a broadcasting network? After all, it's not as if we already pay for one and own another...