Henry Beston, a naturalist, once wrote that animals “are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.” Animal activists from around the world have been trying to end animal cruelty in the circus, SeaWorld, and dog shows for years. While others argue that this is what animals were bred to do, entertain. Animals should not be used and mistreated for human entertainment. Dog shows, circuses and SeaWorld have been mistreating and exploiting defenseless animals for as long as they have been around. The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is a famous dog show that parades around 3,000 dogs around New York’s Madison Square Garden. In a way the dogs …show more content…
The owners that put their dogs through this show want the perfect dog. So to get the perfect dog they arrange canine incest, forcing mothers to breed with their sons and fathers to breed with their daughters. This breeding can cause health problems in the puppies such as epilepsy, hypothyroidism and elbow dysplasia. The dogs are judged by their looks, which can cause the breeders to breed in certain traits for certain breeds. For example, this causes dachshunds to have long spines and short legs which can cause disc disease. Disc disease is when the discs in the back press into the spinal cord, causing damage and severe pain for the dog. It can lead to serious damage to the spine and paralysis. Another example of health issues is with Cavalier King Charles spaniels, who suffer from syringomyelia. Syringomyelia is when the brain is too big for the head. Since the spaniels are bred to have unnaturally flattened skulls, it is not big enough for their brains. “One veterinary neurologist, interviewed for the BBC documentary "Pedigree Dogs Exposed," described the brains of dogs with this condition