Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been urged by animal charity PETA to stop using bulldogs in his campaigns because they have been “cruelly bred”. On Tuesday, the Clacton MP revealed he had got a large tattoo of a British bulldog as an April Fool’s joke as part of a local election campaign.
However, PETA has now written to Mr Farage asking him to not use the breed in campaign material going forward. Campaigners from the organisation have labelled bulldogs as “Frankendogs”, explaining that they are susceptible to health problems due to their purposely “deformed” snouts. PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, wrote: "The way they have been bred is causing them debilitating deformities, their breathing so labored that they make us look like a nation of wheezing weaklings.
"A bulldog’s distorted and restricted airways are not simply uncomfortable – one veterinary surgeon likened it to 'trying to breathe through a really narrow straw' – it is sometimes fatal, resulting in heart failure, suffocation or heat stroke.
“Will you please decide not to use images of bulldogs in any future campaign messaging so we can move on from that image as defining Britishness when I hope it certainly does not.”
PETA says bulldogs are Breathing Impaired Breeds (BIB) and bred for a certain look which results in shortened airways. This causes painful symptoms including laboured breathing, snorting, gagging, vomiting, exercise intolerance, heatstroke, and premature death.
A PETA spokesperson said: "After hearing from PETA and its international affiliates, a growing list of ad and marketing agencies, organisations, retailers, and other businesses are taking responsibility for the impact that marketing has on consumers and refusing to use images of certain BIBs in publications and ads.
"This conscientious decision can help reduce the demand for dogs with features that cause them to suffer."
“I hope this finds you well. I still have a fond memory of your interview with me while I sipped stout on your show when I was in the UK. If you come to Washington again, as I think you may well, I’d be pleased to buy you a Budweiser!
“My office is 8 blocks from the White House, visible if you stand next to the elephant statue in our front garden.
“I’m writing about your fun British Bulldog temporary tattoo and hoping to get your help in drawing attention to what is happening to these dogs, something that, growing up, I was oblivious to, and I think you may be too.
“The way they have been bred is causing them debilitating deformities, their breathing so labored that they make us look like a nation of wheezing weaklings.
“Bulldogs, as you probably know, are brachycephalic breeds, basically “Frankendogs” who have been purposely engineered to have extremely squashed snouts and small heads, physical anomalies that cause a plethora of quite serious and regrettable health issues.
“Such ‘Breathing Impaired Breeds’ (BIB) cannot draw enough air into their narrowed nostrils and often must breathe through their mouth, which causes them to snort, snore, and gasp.
“This is not simply uncomfortable – one veterinary surgeon likened it to “trying to breathe through a really narrow straw” – it is sometimes fatal, resulting in heart failure, suffocation or heat stroke. British Bulldogs’ features also make them susceptible to eye and skin complaints and jaw deformities.
“Unsurprisingly, the Royal Veterinary College warns that British bulldogs are twice as likely to have health problems as other breeds and recommends that “urgent action” be taken regarding their health.
“As you can imagine, bulldogs and others bred to be inherently unwell are frequent visitors to the vet and, during the cost-of-living crisis, are at even greater risk of physical deterioration, neglect, abandonment, and even death if their guardians can’t afford to keep addressing the maladies borne of their mutations.
“You know better than most that the public is influenced by what it sees depicted in popular culture, so I have an extraordinary ask: Will you please decide not to use images of bulldogs in any future campaign messaging so we can move on from that image as defining Britishness when I hope it certainly does not.”
