- PETA wants Western Bulldogs to change their name
- They claim the club uses ‘deformed’ mascots
- Caesar and Sunny play for Bulldogs home games
An AFL club has reportedly been asked to ditch its mascots and change its name after receiving a complaint from animal welfare organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
The complaint, which was sent to the Western Bulldogs, concerned what PETA described as their “deformed” mascots, Caesar and Sunny, who attend every home game dressed in Bulldogs uniforms.
PETA campaign advisor Mimi Bekhechi sent a letter to Bulldogs club president Kylie Watson-Wheeler urging the club to acknowledge the bulldog breed’s health issues and suggested the club change its name to Western Mutts to promote animal welfare.
PETA believes that the use of the live mascots Caesar and Sunny normalizes and promotes the breeding of dog breeds with respiratory problems, which suffer from serious health problems and deformities.
“Extremely short snouts mean suffering,” Bekhechi is said to have written in the letter.
‘By presenting Caesar and Sunny at competitions and events, and by promoting their breeder, the team – however unintentionally – supports the deliberate breeding of dogs with painful and debilitating deformities.’
PETA offered to help pay for the rebranding, arguing that the name change would promote homeless animals.
“We have a proposal that will modernize the image of the Western Bulldogs: retire Caesar and Sunny and change the club’s name to ‘Western Mutts,’” PETA said in the letter.
PETA has called on the Western Bulldogs to change their club name
The animal welfare group says the club should not be allowed to use the ‘deformed’ Caesar as a mascot
‘By not promoting dog breeds with respiratory problems (BIB) … you avoid normalizing their suffering and instead help promote the sweet and unique mixed breeds that tend to live longer and healthier lives than their flat-faced counterparts.
“By relinquishing Caesar and Sunny’s mascot duties to your willing mascots in human costumes and renaming the team the ‘Western Mutts,’ you are taking a stand against ‘purebred’ dog breeding while simultaneously advocating for the adoption of beautiful mixed breeds and other homeless animals.”
The club told News Corp they were not aware of a letter from PETA and chose not to comment on the matter.
Most Australian sporting clubs use animals as nicknames, although the Western Bulldogs, West Coast Eagles, Canterbury Bulldogs and Brisbane Broncos are the only elite clubs to use real animals as mascots on match days.