MUMBAI: Ahead of World Plastic Surgery Day (15 July), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India is launching a widespread appeal to remind everyone that while humans may have a choice when it comes to the shape of their nose.
Pet dog breeds like Pugs and other flat-faced dogs don’t: they are intentionally and cruelly bred to have a snout so squashed it’s difficult for them to even breathe.
So, compassionate people should never buy them, appealed the activists.
The awareness drive about the cruelty involved to make Pugs look like this will be simultaneously held in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata among other cities. In Mumbai, a giant billboard will be displayed at Marine Lines.

“When humans choose to change the appearance of their nose, they can still breathe, but the look breeders are trying to achieve for dogs like pugs condemns them to a lifetime of suffering and gasping for air,” said PETA India Director of Veterinary Services Dr Mini Aravindan, and added, “PETA India urges everyone to turn their nose up at the cruel breeding industry responsible for pugs’ misery and adopt a dog in need from an animal shelter instead.”
Pugs and other breathing-impaired breeds (BIB), including French and English bulldogs, Pekingese, Boston terriers, boxers, Cavalier King Charles spaniels, and shih tzus, suffer from an agonising and sometimes fatal condition called brachycephalic syndrome, which causes them to pant, snort, wheeze, and struggle just to breathe. It can make chasing a ball, running, playing, and even going for a walk – the things that make dogs’ lives joyful – difficult.
The situation is so serious that a number of countries, including Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway, have banned or are currently working on amendments which either ban or restrict the breeding of some or all BIBs.
PETA India warns that most pet shops and breeders in the country are illegal, as they aren’t registered with the relevant state animal welfare boards. Breeders and pet stores typically deprive dogs of proper veterinary care and adequate food, exercise, affection, and opportunities for socialisation – in addition to fuelling the dog overpopulation crisis.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview