Fox News Flash top sports headlines for January 12
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PETA is calling for the University of Georgia to be "a winner not only in football but also in its treatment of" animals.
In the wake of its second straight National Championship, the animal rights organization wants the school to immediately halt its use of its live mascot, an English bulldog named Uga.
The group claims that the school's use of Uga "drives demand for breathing-impaired breeds (BIBs)," like pugs, boxers, and English and French bulldogs.
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Georgia mascot UGA X during the college football game between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the University of Georgia Bulldogs on November 27, 2021 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"As the back-to-back national champion, can’t UGA find it in its heart to honestly examine the impact of its promotion of deformed dogs and call time on its outdated, live-animal mascot program?" PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. "PETA is calling on (University of Georgia president) Jere Morehead to be a peach and replace poor Uga with a human mascot who can support the team in a winning way."
French and English bulldogs are prone to breathing issues due to their flat faces, and some live with brachycephalic syndrome. Breeding of BIBs is banned in some countries.
But the school doesn't seem to have any plans in breaking up with its beloved mascot.
"We are proud of our beloved mascot and grateful for the excellent care provided by Uga’s devoted owners, the Seiler family," Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Georgia Bulldog Mascot "uga" looks on from the endzone before the Sugar Bowl football game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Baylor Bears at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 1, 2020, in New Orleans, LA. (Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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PETA also blasted the National Dog Show, calling the contest "shameful" and saying that the dogs' deformed faces are "nothing to celebrate."
"PETA - whose motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to use for entertainment’ and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview - notes that Uga is a living, feeling being, not a toy to be carted to chaotic football stadiums across the country and trotted out in front of scores of screaming fans," PETA wrote in an email to Fox News Digital.
The organization also wrote to the school in 2019.
UGA Mascot and "UGA X" during the game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Georgia Bulldogs. The Tennessee Volunteers (34) defeated the Georgia Bulldogs (31) at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. (Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Georgia routed TCU on Monday, 65-7.
There have been 10 "Ugas" since it the mascot first introduced in 1956, each of which has been descended from the original. The newest one is often the son of the predecessor.
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