[nagdu] PETA opposes the use of guide dogs

[Chasity Jackson]

>From an interview with Daphna Nachminovitch, Vice-President of Cruelty 
Investigations for PETA, in the Los Angeles Times blog L.A. Unleashed 
(posted 1/10/09):

[NACHMINOVITCH:] There will never be a perfect world, but in the world 
we're in now, we support some working dog situations and decry others. 
Hearing dog programs that pull dogs from animal shelters and ensure that 
they are in safe and loving homes have our stamp of approval; they live 
with the family for their entire life, they learn interesting things, 
enjoy life, and love helping. On the other hand, we oppose most 
seeing-eye-dog programs because the dogs are bred as if there are no 
equally intelligent dogs literally dying for homes in shelters, they are 
kept in harnesses almost 24/7, people are prohibited from petting or 
playing with them and they cannot romp and run and interact with other 
dogs; and their lives are repeatedly disrupted (they are trained for 
months in one home and bond, then sent to a second, and after years of 
bonding with the person they have "served," they are whisked away again 
because they are old and no longer "useful"). We have a member who is 
blind who actually moved states to avoid "returning" her beloved dog. We 
feel that the human community should do more to support blind people, 
and give dogs a break. A deaf person can see if a dog has a medical 
issue such as blood in her urine, a blind person living alone cannot, 
and so on.

Read the whole article (with the option to leave a comment) here:

<href="
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2009/01/when-we-first-r.html> 

You can e-mail Daphna Nachminovitch at 
DaphnaN at peta.org
, or call her at 
757-622-7382, extension 1338.