R&B singer Chris Brown is selling pit bull puppies for $1,000 a pop on a new site called CB Breeds, and shelter advocates are none too pleased about his new hobby.
A release from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) called Brown a "backyard breeder" and encouraged the singer to use his celebrity to encourage shelter adoptions.
"There is no reason to breed and produce more Pit Bull puppies when there are Pit puppies waiting for homes in every shelter in America,” said spcaLA President, Madeline Bernstein in the statement. "The $1000 price tag for a Chris Brown puppy could be better spent money saving the lives of shelter animals."
Brown's reps told the Associated Press that the site wasn't a new side-business for the singer. Instead, Brown is simply trying to sell a litter of puppies that his family's dog had given birth to two months ago.
Indeed, Brown doesn't seem to have directly addressed the new site. Instead, his mother Joyce Hawkins tweeted the site link on Monday, advertising the dogs as "Chris Brown Puppies."
CB Breeds guarantees that the seven chocolate and caramel-colored dogs, named Jett, Music, Fortune, Beauty, Pretty, Precious and Princess, all come with registration, current vaccinations and a four-generation performance pedigree.
Across the nation, pit bulls are flooding animal shelters because they are often mass-bred to be fighting dogs and then quickly abandoned. A report from Maricopa County, Ariz. revealed that pit bulls were the most likely breed to be euthanized because their violent reputations discouraged families from considering them for adoption.
To combat the breed's stigma, local shelter organizations that focus solely on pit bulls are helping to rehabilitate the dogs and raise awareness to increase adoptions.
If you're in the Los Angeles, Calif. area and are looking for a rescue pup to share your life with, check out these nine shelter dogs that need homes now.
