Crufts owner’s protest fury
IT should have been a moment of glory. But activists ‘ruined’ the occasion when a Scots dog was crowned Best in Show at Crufts, according to her owner.
A panicked Yvette Short, 52, from Bonnyrigg, Midlothian could be seen clutching her whippet Collooney Tartan Tease seconds after her victory on Sunday, when animal-rights protesters stormed into the arena.
Responding yesterday to the ‘silly’ pair who tried to ruin her moment in the spotlight, she said: ‘They scared my dog. They are meant to be animal lovers. That wasn’t being lovely, was it?’
She added, however: ‘The win was amazing, it’s tremendous. I saw the judge pointing but I looked down because you just never know whether they are pointing at you or not.’
The two French demonstrators from a vegan activist group backed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) burst in to the arena at the Birmingham NEC with banners saying ‘Crufts: Canine Eugenics’.
A Crufts spokesman said the protesters were ‘irresponsible’ over safety.
Elisa Allen, PETA’s director, branded the show a ‘cruel beauty pageant’, saying: ‘Crufts glorifies pedigree fetishists’ twisted pursuit of the “perfect” dog.
‘There’s nothing natural about breeding dogs with extreme and debilitating physical traits’.