NEW YORK, NY—Responding to overwhelming outrage in the Twitter community yesterday, Animal Planet officially terminated their relationship with longtime canine journalist Kate Bergman.

Just hours before, while covering the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Bergman posted a tweet which many decried as “ignorant” and “breedist”:

Australian shepherds always dominate the agility competition. They’re just faster and more athletic than other dogs! -@kbergmantv

Within minutes, thousands of angry retweets and responses followed:

Wow. Just wow. This is what breedism looks like, folks! ☝☝️☝️ -️@marc_tapper Breed is a social construct resulting from centuries of prejudice against marginalized kennels. Wake up and join the right side of history, Bergman-@hueydingleberry Ever notice when corgis win we call them “intelligent” but when Australian shepherds win we call them “athletic”? So sick of breedist reporting in dog shows. #firethatbitch -@justinbeiber

In response to the controversy, Animal Planet communications manager Linda Reade issued the following statement:

We apologize for the unacceptable breedist tweet that was sent by one of our reporters. Kate Bergman is no longer an employee of Animal Planet. The judgment of animals purely based on breed or species does NOT represent what we believe nor what we stand for. We hope you will accept our profound apologies.

In a public statement released today, Westminster Kennel Club director Andrew Hamilton expressed his support for Animal Planet’s decision.

“The WKC has always had a zero tolerance policy for breedism,” said Hamilton. “Dogs are to be judged by their intelligence, character, training, height, weight, coat, eye color, ear shape, haunches, tail, and testicles, but never their breed.”