An unidentified German actor has been stopped by Berlin’s administrative court, following his announcement that he planned to strangle two puppies with cable wires on stage to protest against the slaughter of sled dogs in Alaska and hunting dogs in Spain, with their death being accompanied by a funeral march music and loud gong. The performance, entitled “Death as Metamorphosis,” was to take place at a Berlin Theater in the Spandau District.

According to animal rights campaigners, approximately 50,000 greyhounds are killed by their owners in Spain each year after they grow too old, or turn out to be too slow to hunt with. Sled dog racing often results in mistreatment and death of dogs because the grueling conditions in which dogs are expect to run. Sled dogs used in tourism don’t have much better luck. Some of you may recall that following the 2010 Olympic Games, due to a slump in  tourism, a tour operator killed 100 healthy sled dogs. According to a CBC News report, the dogs were repeatedly shot and had their throats slashed before being dumped into a mass grave. The tour operator was finally charged with animal cruelty in April this year.

While the causes supported by the artist are valid ones, killing dogs to protest the killing of the dogs makes absolutely no sense. Good decision by the German court!

Image Credit: Wayne SIlver/Flickr