Joey Essex praised by Peta after refusing to adopt dog over ‘cruel’ ear cropping

metro.co.uk:

refused to adopt a dog after finding out its ears had been cropped.The Only Way Is Essex star Joey, 32, had announced on social media he was adopting a Doberman.Sharing a snap of the young dog to Instagram and Facebook, the reality icon wrote proudly that the pup was the ‘newest member’ of the family.However animal lovers were quick to point out that the Doberman had had its ears cropped – a painful procedure which sees much of a puppy’s ears cut to make them stand straight up rather than flop down as normal.There are no health benefits to ear cropping, despite myths of improving hearing or preventing ear infections, and is done mainly to make certain breeds look intimidating.Joey later told Mail Online in a statement: ‘I really wanted to give the dog a home, I fell in love with him.‘But me taking him on as a pet would justify this cruel procedure, which will give the wrong message to my fans and followers.’He added: ‘I’m an animal lover.’Peta has praised Joey for speaking out, with Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen telling Metro.co.uk: ‘We applaud Joey for letting his legions of fans know that he does not endorse ear-cropping – a painful mutilation that involves cutting off the majority of a dog’s extremely sensitive ears and taping the remnants into an unnatural shape for aesthetic reasons – and encourage him to look further into the shady dog-breeding trade. ‘He’ll find that the demand for “designer dogs”, like Dobermanns, is fuelling cruel commercial puppy-breeding operations and irresponsible breeding practices that can cause animals to suffer from painful, debilitating conditions.