Brian Damage
04-09-2009, 11:14 AM
The PET SHOP BOYS have refused to change their name to the Rescue Shelter Boys to aid an animal rights group campaign aimed at discouraging people buying cats and dogs from pet stores.
PETA bosses wrote to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe asking the British duo to consider joining their campaign to turn pet buyers to overcrowded animal shelters - and the West End Girls hitmakers were so taken with the idea, they posted the letter on their official website.
But a name change is out of the question.
Introducing the piece, a website editor writes, "(PETA) has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to but nonetheless think raises an issue worth thinking about."
But PETA Special Projects Manager, Yvonne Taylor, is far from upset by the response - she's thrilled to hear the duo has taken her letter seriously.
A spokesman says, "Neil Tennant, who posted this, showed that the Pet Shop Boys are just as smart as their lyrics and appreciate PETA's creative ways of bringing issues to the public."
In the letter, Taylor writes, "We have a request that may at first seem bizarre, but we hope that after considering the following facts, you will understand why we are asking this of you: will you please consider changing your name from the Pet Shop Boys to the Rescue Shelter Boys?
"Most dogs and cats sold in pet shops are sourced from profit-hungry breeders who may have bred them in cramped, filthy conditions. With an emphasis on quantity rather than quality, unmonitored genetic defects and personality disorders pass from one generation of puppies and kittens to the next. Many animals end up with abnormalities that result in both heartbreak and high veterinary bills for the unsuspecting people who buy them."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/pet%20shop%20boys%20say%20no%20to%20name%20change_1100141
PETA bosses wrote to Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe asking the British duo to consider joining their campaign to turn pet buyers to overcrowded animal shelters - and the West End Girls hitmakers were so taken with the idea, they posted the letter on their official website.
But a name change is out of the question.
Introducing the piece, a website editor writes, "(PETA) has written to Pet Shop Boys with a request they are unable to agree to but nonetheless think raises an issue worth thinking about."
But PETA Special Projects Manager, Yvonne Taylor, is far from upset by the response - she's thrilled to hear the duo has taken her letter seriously.
A spokesman says, "Neil Tennant, who posted this, showed that the Pet Shop Boys are just as smart as their lyrics and appreciate PETA's creative ways of bringing issues to the public."
In the letter, Taylor writes, "We have a request that may at first seem bizarre, but we hope that after considering the following facts, you will understand why we are asking this of you: will you please consider changing your name from the Pet Shop Boys to the Rescue Shelter Boys?
"Most dogs and cats sold in pet shops are sourced from profit-hungry breeders who may have bred them in cramped, filthy conditions. With an emphasis on quantity rather than quality, unmonitored genetic defects and personality disorders pass from one generation of puppies and kittens to the next. Many animals end up with abnormalities that result in both heartbreak and high veterinary bills for the unsuspecting people who buy them."
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/pet%20shop%20boys%20say%20no%20to%20name%20change_1100141