Dodger Dogs out at the plate?

The Dodger Dog long has been a delicacy for many Los Angeles baseball fans, but a group of animal rights activists can’t stomach them any longer.

In a letter sent Monday to Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, the team was urged to end its ties “with Farmer John and its cruelly produced pork products.” The plea came from Stephen Wells, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a Sonoma County- based nonprofit organization that is the lead plaintiff in a pending lawsuit against Farmer John and Corcpork, one of its suppliers, based in Corcoran, Calif.

Lisa Franzetta, a spokeswoman for the animal rights group, said that while other pork producers around the world have moved to treat their livestock more humanely, the Dodger Dog’s makers have continued to keep pigs that are pregnant or nursing in “inhumane” small cages that prevent the animals from being able to turn around or even scratch themselves.

Franzetta said Dodgers fans, even the avid meat eaters among them, “still are concerned about the lives the animals lived before they became their hot dogs.”

That contention, however, didn’t cut the mustard with some fans at Monday night’s Dodgers game.

“It won’t change my habit of eating Dodger Dogs,” said John Kenn, 48, a real estate broker from Los Angeles who was incredulous when informed of the activists’ charges. “I love animals, but this is ridiculous.”

Another fan agreed.

“It’s not going to stop me from eating Dodger Dogs. I’m sorry,” said a woman who declined to give her name, as she polished off the final bite of a hot dog. “I come to the games for the Dodger Dogs and the team.”

Camille Johnston, a Dodgers spokeswoman, said late Monday she couldn’t comment on the letter from the animal rights group. She said she was told of the letter late in the day and was not able to reach Farmer John officials.

Johnston said the Dodgers organization has had a business relationship with Farmer John since the late 1950s.

The popular frankfurter was named the “Dodger Dog” in the early 1970s, she said.

stuart.silverstein@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Ben Bolch contributed to this report.