‘Shameful’: PETA Blasts NFL Player Who Co-Owns National Dog Show Winner

Chargers defender Morgan Fox got a big win on Thanksgiving, but it didn’t come on the football field. Instead, it came at the National Dog Show, where the dog he co-owns, ‘Winston,” won Best in Show.

However, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is hardly celebrating the win. In fact, they’re calling the event “shameful” and accusing Fox of being motivated by “profit and prestige.”

The radical animal rights activist group took aim at the National Dog Show, Fox, and Thanksgiving, in a lengthy statement condemning the celebration of the “deformities” that plague the French Bulldog breed.

“Setting aside the fact that this is a trade show designed to help promote the breeding and sale of dogs when the country is experiencing a dog overpopulation crisis that results in euthanasia and severely crowded animal shelters, this year’s ‘Best in Show’ is shameful in another respect,” PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch told Fox News.

“In other countries, including throughout Europe, breeding BIBs — breathing-impaired breeds — is referred to as ‘torture breeding,’ because French bulldogs and other BIBs can suffer from an uncomfortable, debilitating and sometimes fatal condition called brachycephalic syndrome that makes them struggle to breathe, run, play or experience the joys that make a dog’s life worthwhile and make hot weather hell for them. PETA urges people not to breed or buy any dog, let alone those who are physically punished by breeders who have robbed them of a real nose and who cause them to struggle for something as basic and vital as taking a breath.”

PETA took aim at Fox, specifically on its website.

“Dog shows exploit dogs who are often “owned” by groups of people who are simply out for profit and prestige. For instance, NFL player Morgan Fox, who partly owns the group that handles Winston, noted that he gained exposure from this win, which was broadcast to an estimated 20 million viewers,” the group wrote.

Fox and the Chargers will try to take the Cardinals down on Sunday. Something that PETA probably also has a problem with.