A Biased BBC reader flags up a looming issue;
“First to emphasise that this is a prediction not a report.
Following the impact of the BBC’s Pedigree Dogs Examined, where the BBCwithdrew coverage of Crufts and other organizations, including the RSPCA,withdrew from their annual coverage of Crufts, several reports were compiled bythe welfarati concerning pedigree dogs. Basically they all shared the view thatthe Kennel Club were encouraging the production of canine mutants for showingpurposes. The original programme, made by Gemima Harrison, received severalcomplaints and in some respects followed the BBC tradition of dishonourablereporting: eg. Nazi eugenics imagery flashed next to photographs of the KCbuilding and in a discussion on line breeding the BBC interview asked the KCChairman if he would have sex with his daughter. Several complaints wereupheld.
As mentioned, several welfare organizations set up opposition to aestheticevaluation of dogs, insisting that criteria for health should replaceaesthetics – as if the two stood in polar opposition. The RSPCA,in a fit of PC,banned charity shows in their domain which held classes for the ‘prettiestbitch’. Meanwhile the All Party Animal Welfare Group had their say and appearto be active in the new programme which could well be scheduled just ahead ofCrufts in order to generate hostile anti-KC publicity. You will note that aleading member of the APAWG is Caroline Lucas (MP for Brighton and Gaza). Acouple of weeks ago the APAWG met with interested ‘stakeholders’ in the Commonsbut the KC who were invited declined to attend. The reason was that the eventwas being filmed by Harrison and Passionate Productions for the BBC, and thatthe latter’s impartiality was seriously impaired.
I predict a major row between the KC and Crufts on one side and the BBC withsupport from the leftish welfarati on the other. The science of genetics willbe trotted out by the BBC’s impartial science reporters and demonstrations byPETA (semi naked celebrities?) will be widely reported by the BBC…”
“the BBC interview asked the KC Chairman if he would have sex with his daughter.”
I wonder if anyone in the RSPCA was asked if they would put their daughter to sleep if they became ill?
One thing is for sure – if the RSPCA or anyone else ever bring a case to court arguing for easier human euthenasia then the Beeb are sure to support it.
So would I if it were the labour front Bench that were being euthenised.
Support Euthenasia, that is.
The BBC is congenitally impartial and does not engage in political activism. Helen Wassherface says so.
Its reporters are disinterested, impartial observers. It will be a Black day for honest reporting when BBC reporters cannot be trusted to treat stories with evenhandedness and a lack of bias – indeed, it will be a death Knell for responsible journalism.
Geddit???????????
Wait… what’s the charge the BBC’s pushing here? Dog breeders only select from a tiny pool and use ludicrous criteria that result in specimens completely unable to fulfil the basic demands of their role?
Hmmmmm… I believe the phrase that pays is something about ‘motes and beams’.
Blimey; I’m sorry, but as much as I loathe the BBC, PETA and Caroline Lucas, they’re absolutely right on this one. Have you not seen what years of ‘quality’ breeding has done to some breeds? This GSD breeder tells it like it is.
http://windridgek9.com/
In thirty years of farming and dog ownership, I’ve learnt the hard (and expensive) way about buying dogs (collies and mallinois mainly) that come with a ‘quality’ pedigree as long as your arm – pages of KC approved and registered names of sires and dams, and many names crop up in the breeding chart again and again, horribly close to each other. The dogs that didn’t develop physical problems would go in the head well before their time. We’re now onto flatcoats – bred ONLY for their working ability, and from a wide, wide base.
I remember watching the original documentary thinking what good work it was. My vet, despite the money he makes from trying to sort out these canine obscenities, agreed!
Right, back to hating the BBC….
Exactly. The BBC hasn’t revealed anything new. It’s been common knowledge for a long time that the best (but not the only) way to avoid the deleterious genes caused by breeding from a limited genepool is to buy a mongrel.
To me the issue isn’t whether the BBC is right. It’s the methods they use to skew the issue when they think they’re in the right, when they should be reporting the facts impartially.
I agree Chuffer. Breeding genetic defects into an animal for the sake of vanity is simply and plainly wrong, whatever the political pursuasion of the breeder.
The BBC were right to stop covering Crufts and the Kennel club should dissasociate from such vile and cruel practices.
Where is the morality of causing wilful pain and damage to an animal through selective breeding to create defective traits? King Charles’ Spaniels which suffer epilepsy because the skull is too small for it’s brain, and the resulting pressure causes siezures and even premature death? WTF?
The Kennel Club should NOT approve any breed that requires harmful genetic defects to fit a “perfect template of the breed”.
The BBC have this uncanny ability to make me side with anyone that they oppose.
Therefore I shall look into dog breeding and automatically support Crufts-because if the BBC oppose it, then it will surely be a good thing.
All those demos against fox-hunting or legalising drugs?…boy, was I dumb.
I repeat…if the Beeb hate the notion, then it will be something that we`ll be wanting as a nation.
I understand the impulse but isn’t that just descending to the BBC’s low level?
cjhartnett, I sympathise with and understand your position. I’m a bit of a knee-jerker when it comes to the BBC’s positions on virtually everything. But in this instance I agree with Barry and Geyza – this selective breeding is disgusting and should be stopped by law in many of the worst cases.
Just because the BBC is right on this one issue however, doesn’t stop it being a vile organisation.
Sorry to give anyone reason to think that I`m serious about any of this.
As a science teacher, I do tow the consensus line I promise…but I despise the BBCs continual choosing of issues for us all to respond to, and -because I don`t know how this story was generated-I tend to think that they want me to emote, or kick the corpse of Barbara Wodehouse by way of showing us all how much they care.
It`s a reflex thing, and protects me….but I`d in no way really go along with this…but I never supported fox-hunting until the BBC and NuLabour got hold of it as a dog whistle issue.
And no…I don`t practice that any more than I would breed dogs etc for show!
On selective breeding: Barry and Geyza are right, there is no defence and it needs to be stopped. The BBC takes the moral high ground here but targets the wrong people. The KC have done too little too late, but now they are trying to put together a framework for breeding based on their ‘fit for function’ campaign. This, I suspect, will be underplayed or misrepresented by the BBC. Also, many faults lie with the all powerful breed societies who are hard to control. Proposals to reform them were supplied to the BBC before the previous programme, including suggestions for lay membership on their executive committees, and this was ignored by the BBC who wanted the KC as an easy target. For years the BBC filmed Crufts, and presented it as a beauty show of over 20,000 contestants whereas the event actually caters for a wide range of canine activities, most of all the promotion of responsible dog ownership, the lack of which is a cause of misery to many animals. By pulling out of Crufts, the RSPCA and others surrendered this opportunity to educate the dog owning public.
The lead article mentions the rejection of aesthetics, by the BBC, APAWG and the RSPCA in favour of evaluation of health and welfare. These are not incompatible as health has an aesthetic dimension. An animal that has been bred in such a way that prohibits free movement is not by any standards an object of beauty; it is an object of pity. So what is going on is a political battle within the animal welfare world, with the KC been selected as an easy target by the BBC. My concern with the new programme, is that it will have an agenda, building on a popular revulsion against specific types of breeding. This agenda will involve demands for more legislation, government directed breeding establishments, more power for the welfarati including the BVA, and RSPCA.