10 Reasons for Animal Birth Control

Broadcast-quality footage of PETA's video "10 Reasons for Animal Birth Control" and of the group's racy new PSAs, including "Buy One Get One Killed," will be available

Standing next to body bags stuffed with "dead dogs" and holding giant posters that read, "Breeders Kill Shelter Dogs' Chances," PETA will protest outside the Professional & Hobby Breeder dog show at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center on Friday. PETA's point? That animal shelters are forced to euthanize millions of dogs and cats every year, while breeders create millions more puppies and kittens to sell. The action is part of PETA's Animal Birth Control (ABC) campaign, which promotes spaying and neutering to reduce animal overpopulation and urges people to adopt dogs and cats from animal shelters rather than buy from pet stores or breeders.

During the protest, PETA will screen its highly controversial "Buy One Get One Killed" TV spot, in which a family buying a new purebred dog is presented a black body and the breeder casually announces, "Here's the dog you just killed."

For every dog or cat purchased from a breeder or a pet store, an animal awaiting adoption in an animal shelter loses his or her chance to find a loving home. And because breeders and pet stores almost never require that the animals that they sell be sterilized, many of the animals will have litters of their own—creating even more unwanted animals. Roughly 8 million animals--many of them purebreds--are abandoned at animal shelters every year in the U.S., and about 4 million of them must be destroyed because of the lack of good homes.

"Breeders are a homeless dog's worst enemy because they churn out puppies and even oppose spay/neuter laws that can save animals' lives," says PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. "All dogs are created equal, but millions of wonderful mutts are paying with their lives because of breeder greed."