Crufts in deep doggy do
September 21st 2008 06:46
Crufts, the iconic centre of the dog show universe, is facing the ugliest controversy in its more than 120-year history.
The largest annual dog show in the world, Crufts is organised and hosted by the Kennel Club (UK). The four-day show is held every March at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. The first show, in 1886, had 57 classes and 600 entries. Today about 150,000 people attend each year to watch an average 30,000 dogs take part.
Last week, the RSPCA and the Dogs Trust, the UK's largest canine charity, announced that they would henceforth boycott Crufts, claiming the show's judging criteria encourage the breeding of "deformed and disabled" dogs. The RSPCA said the competition promoted breeding methods that were "morally unjustifiable".
The move comes after the British Broadcasting Commission aired a documentary in August which alleged that unhealthy, and sometimes inbred, dogs were winning best in breed competitions at the show. The program showed a prize-winning Cavalier King Charles spaniel with syringomyelia, a condition which occurs when a dog's skull is too small for its brain. It also showed boxers suffering from epilepsy, pugs with breathing problems and bulldogs which were unable to mate or give birth unassisted.
The Kennel Club initially denied what it claims was a "biased and selective" documentary, but it now finds itself isolated.
The RSPCA's chief veterinary adviser, Mark Evans, said, "Dog shows using current breed standards as the main judging criteria actively encourage both the intentional breeding of deformed and disabled dogs and the inbreeding of closely related animals. Intentionally breeding deformed and disabled animals is morally unjustifiable and has to stop. There is compelling scientific evidence that the health and welfare of hundreds of thousands of pedigree dogs is seriously compromised as a result."
A Dogs Trust spokeswoman said, “The Dogs Trust believes that (the) removal of support is the strongest signal it can give to the Kennel Club and breeders to achieve immediate action to ensure that the health and wellbeing of pedigree dogs is ranked over appearance and artificial breed standards. Purchasers of dogs should first consider a rescue dog."
Perhaps the most damning criticism came from Alison Jeffers, a British breeder of basset hounds. Ms Jeffers, who has 30 hounds, said, "Our dogs are in good health and can work all day covering 25 to 30 miles. But the bassets bred for shows like Crufts are so inbred that most are incapable of being working dogs even though they win prizes in that category.
"They weigh 35-40kg compared with our dogs' 20kg. They have very short legs, skin, ear and eye problems and suffer from arthritis, and yet judges turn a blind eye to all of that as if it is irrelevant.
"The Kennel Club and many breeders are in denial. They have to admit the scale of the problem and take urgent action to solve it."
Sources: guardian.co.uk, kenilworthweeklynews.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, en.wikipedia.org, stripduke.web-log.nl
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