The battle between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and some of Georgia Bulldogs football’s biggest alums has heated up in recent weeks regarding the treatment of mascot Uga.
As Georgia prepared to play for its second-straight national title in January, PETA president Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said that the school should end its mascot tradition because it “drives demand for breathing-impaired breeds” such as English Bulldogs.
That didn’t sit well with some of the program’s biggest alumni.
Former Bulldogs football stars Knowshon Moreno and Taverres King responded via TMZ to say that Uga lives a great life on the Georgia campus.
“I feel like those pets live the best lives!” said Moreno. “Uga live the life!”
“I don’t think folks know how good of a life Uga lives,” said King. “Uga lives a good one.”
Now, Reiman has responded to both players, saying that there’s more to their concerns than how Uga lives day-to-day.
“Uga’s digs were never in question, and without air conditioning, he would likely have died of heatstroke long ago, so providing him with AC is the least the University of Georgia should do,” said Reiman. “But even a palace wouldn’t prevent him from gasping for every breath, and PETA challenges anyone who doubts the difficulty that English bulldogs have of breathing through distorted, restricted airways to attend a football game while drawing breath only through a straw and then decide whether Uga is living “the life” or barely living.”
There are certainly a lot of big concerns surrounding the world of breeding and how many animals around America are treated. However, it might be a pretty hard sell to get Georgia fans to think twice about having Uga around.
[The Spun]
