The militant animal rights group PETA has called for the retirement of University of Georgia’s bulldog mascot, posting a video supposedly showing him looking miserable. The message backfired among the offended Dawgs fans.
“He looks miserable,” tweeted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Monday, posting a video of Uga X at a rainy-day football game. Uga was sitting dry in a dog house while people around him endured the wet and cold weather.
“Animals are NOT mascots,” PETA said, calling for Uga to be given to a “loving family” and released “immediately.” Needless to say, Bulldogs fans were not amused.
“Does... Does PETA think UGA lives at Sanford stadium?” one Twitter user commented, while another pointed out the bulldog was in a “heated and dry dog house with a sweater on while every human around him is soaking wet and freezing.”
“Also Peta: We euthanize almost all the dogs put in our care,” another user user wrote in response to the Uga protest.
PETA has indeed had a long and controversial history of support for euthanizing animals. People quickly brought up a 2014 story about two PETA activists who were accused of stealing and putting down someone’s pet chihuahua in Virginia.
Others were quick to point out that Uga X – the latest in the line of the university’s bulldog mascots, going back to 1956 – is treated better than most humans.
A 2017 video from WMGT-DT in Macon, Georgia shows Uga being transported in a van with special air conditioning and showered with the sort of attention that would make other dogs drool with envy.
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