How panda dogs can help us save at risk species

They say that the restaurant business is one of the hardest markets to break into, let alone achieve sustained success.  There are so many places to eat out, get “a coffee,” meet for a nosh, who can compete?  So, who can blame a restauranteur for trying everything they can think of to stand out from the crowd and attract diners?  

I  have witnessed guys dressed in parrot suits outside diners trying to draw in hungry patrons, in August, in Florida, sometimes during a rainstorm. Simply put, it is tough for an eatery to survive!  

In the US, restaurants have started to use dogs and cats to increase the bottom line - either bring your own pet to “yappy hour” or enjoy the cats provided.  

So, I am not really sure how to explain the backlash that fell on a Chinese cafe when they dressed up their chow-chows to look like pandas.  Yep, that’s right!  

Some of the online outrage from activists stemmed form the fact that the dogs were not dressed up rather their hair was colored black and white.  

Dyeing dog fur is something commonly seen with national grooming shows. I have personally seen various Marvel Avengers images on a poodle’s backside. 

The restaurant’s chow-chows look incredibly adorable as pandas.  Maybe this restaurant found a new way to help get Chow Chows adopted. 

This story also makes me wonder what we could turn other dogs into with some hair dye and clippers?  Could dyed dogs help increase the need for conservation of threatened species? Could a black standard poodle be disguised as a Malayan sun bear?  Could a Sharpei be a convincing Indian rhino?  Is it too much to imagine a mini-dachshund as a leaner, shorter tamandua?  Well, at any rate, this article is worth it just to see the pictures of the most adorable chow-chows I have seen in years.

Read the article below:

Panda dogs sparks animal rights rage




Dr. Jenifer Chatfield

Dr. Jenifer Chatfield is the Staff Veterinarian at 4J Conservation Center, an instructor for FEMA/DHS courses, and a Regional Commander for the National Disaster Medicine System Team. She graduated from Texas A&M University's CVM and has pursued emergency medicine and zoo medicine throughout her career. She owned two emergency clinics and has been the Senior Veterinarian in a zoo. She completed fieldwork in Madagascar and South America and continues to explore new areas of medicine as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine for more than 10 years. Dr. Chatfield is a Medical Reserve Corps member and developed the "Veterinary Support to Zoological Animals in a Disaster" for the National Veterinary Response Team’s training curriculum. Dr. Chatfield has chaired the Florida Veterinary Medical Association's (FVMA) One Health Committee and co-chaired FVMA's Disaster Response Committee.

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