PETA Slams Kim Kardashian Over Christmas Gifts: “Puppies Are Not Plushies”

PETA has blasted Kim Kardashian after she gifted each of her four young children their own Pomeranian puppy for Christmas.

“Puppies are not plushies, and it’s a damn shame that Kim missed the chance to be a spokesperson for shelter pups and instead is being rightly slammed on social media for that,” PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement issued to PEOPLE.

Newkirk also urged Kardashian and her sister Khloé Kardashian — whose children were gifted a black Labrador puppy for Christmas — to  “call PETA or a local shelter the next time” instead of going to a breeder.

“[They can] try to make some amends now by sending their kids to volunteer at a local shelter or paying for a local shelter adopt-a-thon or at least one spay day to help stop the growing homeless puppy crisis,” Newkirk suggested.

Kardashian shares four children with her ex-husband Kanye West: 12-year-old North, 10-year-old Saint, 7-year-old Chicago, and 6-year-old Psalm.

The criticism comes after the All’s Fair actress has been dealing with medical challenges. In a recent episode of The Kardashians, she revealed she has “holes” in her brain, which her doctor described as areas of “low activity.” She has also been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, which Kardashian attributed to her stressful divorce from West.