(NewsNation) — Kim Kardashian is in hot water with PETA after she gifted each of her children with their own 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,” Ingrid Newkirk, the founder for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, told People magazine in a statement.
On Christmas Day, Kardashian shared on her Instagram Stories that she gave her four kids — North, 12; Saint, 10; Chicago, 7; and Psalm, 6 — four small Pomeranian puppies.
On a photo of all four dogs together, the SKIMS founder wrote on a photo showing the dogs, “Each kid got a puppy.”
Khloé Kardashian also posted pictures of a black Labrador retriever puppy that she and her family got for Christmas.
FILE – Kim Kardashian arrives to the Serena Williams fashion show during Fashion Week in New York, Sept. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) 
FILE – In this Jan. 13, 2019, file photo, Khloe Kardashian watches during the second half of an NBA basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Los Angeles. Kardashian says she had tested positive for the coronavirus. The reality star confirmed her previous diagnosis in a Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, sneak peek clip of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.” The bedridden Kardashian spoke in the video with a hoarse voice. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
“I am going to cry she’s the best in the world,” she wrote, People magazine reported.
“I am not ok right now. This maybe my gift because I could cry @bigcreeklabradors she is the sweetest soul ever!!!!!”
PETA: The Kardashians should reach out to shelter
Newkirk told People magazine that the Kardashian sisters should contact her organization for a “local shelter” the next time they want a dog.
“(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,” the PETA founder said.