cbbreeds.comChris Brown's career is going to the dogs—pit bulls, actually.
The "Look at Me Now" singer is stirring controversy for breeding the canines and selling them for profit, drawing heat from animal-rights activists who want him to promote pound puppy adoptions instead.
The brouhaha got started on Monday after the 22-year-old Brown's manager-mother, Joyce Hawkins, posted a link on her Twitter page to CB Breeds, a website featuring a cutesy photo of her son holding up an adorable newborn pup and offering seven fullly vaccinated American pit bull terrier pups for $1,000 a pop.
"CHRIS BROWN PUPPIES FOR SALE," she tweeted.
Needless to say, the R&B star's puppy mill drew howls of protest from several animal welfare organizations, among them the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which issued a statement condemning the side business.
"There is no such thing as a responsible breeder while wonderful dogs are being put down in animal shelters across the country for lack of a good home. This is a moneymaking scheme, and Brown will count the suckers who fall for it as he counts the money on the way to the bank," PETA told E! News in a statement. "Shelters will count the bodies in the barrel. As Justin Bieber, Kellan Lutz and Rocsi Diaz say, "Adopt, never buy."
The Los Angeles chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, meanwhile, decried what it called his "backyard breeding."
"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 a statement. "Furthermore, as some of these dogs suffer from and are victims of their owner's misuse, they can be even harder to place."
The group suggested those looking for a pooch instead adopt a shelter dog, which are much cheaper and often come fully trained, and also encouraged Brown to halt his breeding business and put his celebrity to better use by encouraging the same.
"The $1000 price tag for a Chris Brown puppy could be better spent money saving the lives of shelter animals," added Bernstein.
A publicist for the F.A.M.E.crooner denied to E! News that Brown is breeding, noting instead that the puppies were part of a litter birthed by his family's dogs back home in Virginia and were being sold to make sure they get good homes.
"He loves animals, especially dogs," said the rep.