PETA has written to AFL’s Western Bulldogs, requesting they retire the club’s name and mascots

Has the world gone mad? The AFL have been left blindsided by an official complaint urging the Western Bulldogs to abandon their famous name as it promotes ‘suffering and deformities’.

The Western Bulldogs AFL club have been urged to retire their mascots and undertake a name change after receiving a complaint from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) over their ‘deformed’ Bulldogs Caesar and Sunny.

This is not a joke.

PETA campaign advisor in Australia, Mimi Bekhechi, issued a letter to the club president Kylie Watson-Wheeler calling upon the club to recognise the health issues with the bulldog breed and suggested the club would do more to promote animal wellbeing by being renamed the Western Mutts.

The activist group believe the use of the live mascots Caesar and Sunny normalises and promotes the breeding of breathing-impaired breeds (BIB) who suffer with deformities and severe health problems – including brachycephalic syndrome, a leading cause of death for bulldogs.

“Extremely short snouts spell suffering,” said Bekhechi.

The Bulldogs have live mascots that attend their matches. Picture: Getty

“By showcasing Caesar and Sunny at games and events and promoting their breeder, the team is – however unwittingly – supporting the intentional breeding of dogs with painful and debilitating deformities.”

In the letter to Watson-Wheeler, PETA suggested the club could promote homeless animals with a name change and even offered to help “contribute to rebranding costs.”

“We have a suggestion that’ll modernise Western Bulldogs’ image: retire Caesar and

Sunny and rename the club the “Western Mutts”,” PETA wrote in a letter to the club boss.

“By not promoting breathing impaired dog breeds (BIB) ... you’d avoid normalising their suffering and instead help champion loveable and unique mixed-breed dogs, who typically live longer and are healthier than their flat-faced cousins.

PETA has called for the Western Bulldogs to change their mascots and nickname. Picture: Mark Stewart

“By relinquishing Caesar and Sunny’s mascot duties to your willing human costumed mascots and renaming the team the “Western Mutts”, you’d be taking a stand against the “pedigree” dog–breeding industry while championing the adoption of wonderful mixed breeds and other homeless animals.”

The Western Bulldogs club said they were not aware of a letter from PETA and did not wish to make a comment on the matter at this time.

While animal nicknames are not uncommon in Australian sport, the Western Bulldogs and West Coast Eagles and the NRL’s Canterbury Bulldogs and Brisbane Broncos, are the only clubs known in those codes to have used real animals as their mascots on game day.

Then again, could you imagine the PETA outroar if there was a real Lion, Kangaroo, Tiger, Panther, Shark or Eel on the sidelines at the footy.

Originally published as PETA has written to AFL’s Western Bulldogs, requesting they retire the club’s name and mascots