Pet owner forced to rename ‘Nazi’ dogs

A dog owner in France was forced to change the Nazi-sounding names of his pets after the city mayor demanded he do so.

The owner of the American Staffordshire Terriers, formerly known as “Itler” and “Iva,” was denied a license for the two dogs by Mayor Luc Binsinger of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, a small commune in northeastern France, because Binsinger insisted that the names would “make people think of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun,” according to an article published Thursday by the Daily Mail,.

“I don’t want to sign this license. Of course ‘Itler’ and ‘Iva’ make you think of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, a dubious play on words,” the mayor said last September after initially being presented with the request.

The owner had initially secured an initial license to own the dogs, as mandated by French law for the ownership of potentially dangerous dogs, without a hitch, however the mayor insisted he would not sign off on a second license if the names had remained.

“It’s not a question of how dangerous the dogs are, it’s a question of principle,” Binsinger told AFP.

Binsinger further speculated that the man was a local official for the National Front, an anti-immigration nationalist party in France founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, a retired French political figure who stirred controversy on a number of occasions for anti-Semitic rhetoric and xenophobic comments.

The party, now headed by his daughter Marine Le Pen, was wildly successful in the 2014 European Parliament Elections, garnering 24 of France 74’s seats

In compliance with the mayor’s demands, the terriers were renamed “Ilisa” and “Isio 4.”