jason
03-10-2004, 11:50 PM
LONDON (AFP) - The Kennel Club says its looking into allegations that a young doberman pinscher was drugged to prevent her from winning a coveted prize at Crufts, the world's biggest dog show.
Kerri, aged 22 months, was a favourite to win the doberman Open Bitch category, but when she entered the ring at Crufts last Saturday her owner noticed that she was not her usually lively self.
"She was just not herself. She was uncoordinated, listless and lethargic," recalled Clive Evans, 44, who pulled Kerri out of competition and took her to Crufts' chief veterinarian Trevor Turner to be examined.
Turner found that Kerry "showed signs of sedation," leaving Evans to fear -- despite a lack of evidence -- that a rival might have slipped her a piece of meat laced with ACP, an animal tranquiliser.
"We believe someone is trying to knock us off the top of the ladder," said Evans, who has twice won Best of Breed with his dobermans. "It is absolutely disgusting that anyone could do this to an animal."
Phil Buckley, a spokesman for the Kennel Club, which organises Crufts and maintains the official British registry of pedigree dogs, said Evans' claims would be investigated by the Crufts show committee.
"If this claim is substantiated, it would be a disgrace and treated very seriously," he said, adding however that dog-doping incidents at Crufts are extremely rare, with only one reported in the past 20 years.
Some 22,000 dogs, and 120,000 dog lovers, turned up for the four-day 101st edition of Crufts in Birmingham, in the English Midlands, where a four-year-old English whippet named Deedee walked off with Best in Show laurels on Sunday.
Last January veteran breeder Peter Mann was forced to step down as Crufts chairman amid allegations that he was involved in puppy farming in the 1960s and 1970s when large-scale dog breeding was not illegal in Britain.
Kerri, aged 22 months, was a favourite to win the doberman Open Bitch category, but when she entered the ring at Crufts last Saturday her owner noticed that she was not her usually lively self.
"She was just not herself. She was uncoordinated, listless and lethargic," recalled Clive Evans, 44, who pulled Kerri out of competition and took her to Crufts' chief veterinarian Trevor Turner to be examined.
Turner found that Kerry "showed signs of sedation," leaving Evans to fear -- despite a lack of evidence -- that a rival might have slipped her a piece of meat laced with ACP, an animal tranquiliser.
"We believe someone is trying to knock us off the top of the ladder," said Evans, who has twice won Best of Breed with his dobermans. "It is absolutely disgusting that anyone could do this to an animal."
Phil Buckley, a spokesman for the Kennel Club, which organises Crufts and maintains the official British registry of pedigree dogs, said Evans' claims would be investigated by the Crufts show committee.
"If this claim is substantiated, it would be a disgrace and treated very seriously," he said, adding however that dog-doping incidents at Crufts are extremely rare, with only one reported in the past 20 years.
Some 22,000 dogs, and 120,000 dog lovers, turned up for the four-day 101st edition of Crufts in Birmingham, in the English Midlands, where a four-year-old English whippet named Deedee walked off with Best in Show laurels on Sunday.
Last January veteran breeder Peter Mann was forced to step down as Crufts chairman amid allegations that he was involved in puppy farming in the 1960s and 1970s when large-scale dog breeding was not illegal in Britain.