50,000 dogs killed in China UPDATE on pg 2

[beeniesmom]

I can't believe this.
From CNN.com


SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- A county in southwestern China has killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a government-ordered campaign following the deaths of three local people from rabies, official media reported on Tuesday.

The five-day massacre in Yunnan province's Mouding county spared only military guard dogs and police canine units, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing local media.

Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten to death on the spot, it said. Other killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get dogs barking, then homing in on their prey.

About 360 of the county's 200,000 residents suffered dog bites this year, with three reported deaths, including a 4-year-old girl, the report said.

"With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the dogs," Li Haibo, a spokesman for the county government was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Calls to county government offices rang unanswered on Tuesday.

China has suffered a major rise in the number of rabies cases in recent years, with 2,651 reported deaths from the disease in 2004, the last year for which data was available, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts have tied the rise in cases in part to a major increase in dog ownership, particularly in rural areas where about 70 percent of households keep dogs. However, rates of rabies vaccination remain extremely low at only about 3 percent, according to the center.

[moosmom]

That's disgusting!!! Rather than kill the poor innocent dogs, they should beat and kill the stupid owners who don't keep their pets rabies shots up to date!!

[Karen]

That's disgusting!!! Rather than kill the poor innocent dogs, they should beat and kill the stupid owners who don't keep their pets rabies shots up to date!!

It doesn't look like they checked whether the dogs were vaccinated or not, Donna. And I do not know how readily available or affordable veterinary care is in "rural" China.

[beeniesmom]

I have a hard time believing that dogs are the "culprits".
Rabies can occur in any animal right? Like rats or other animals.

[elizabethann]

Just remember this story when you buy something that says:

MADE IN CHINA

You may not want the item afterall.

[lizbud]

This quote is very revealing about the logic of this government's thinking
process.

"With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the dogs," Li Haibo, a spokesman for the county government was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.


And this country has over 400 nuclear weapons on hand, but no money
or will to offer rabies shots or educate their people. Very scary thinking.

[GreyhoundGirl]

I have a hard time believing that dogs are the "culprits".
Rabies can occur in any animal right? Like rats or other animals.

That's right !!!!

[lizbud]

I read another story that had a few more facts, including that the owners
where first offered 63 cents to each person who killed thier own dogs, before
they sent in forces to beat the dogs to death.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/9607608/detail.html

[Alysser]

OK, I really shouldn't have read that.

Do people have any common sense?? Did they even check the dogs for rabies at all! That's just digusting, I am beyond pissed right now, just reading that. Why do they have to kill 50,000 animals JUST because of 3 cases?

I can't even type anymore. That is just beyond inhumane...It takes a true physco to do something so horrible.

[Lady's Human]

Why should they treat canines any different than they treat their human population?

[jackie]

Why should they treat canines any different than they treat their human population?

That was my first thought too.

[pitc9]

I made the mistake of looking at the pictures on AOL.

[elizabethann]

I made the mistake of looking at the pictures on AOL.

I went to look at Yahoo's most popular news (like I do daily) and there was a picture. It was just awful. Those damn people! I hate them!!!

[beeniesmom]

I saw it too and got sick...

[elizabethann]

Well it appears 50,000 wasn't enough. They're killing even more dogs:

SHANGHAI, China -- A second Chinese city plans a mass dog slaughter to control a rabies outbreak, state media said Friday, days after a similar cull in which dogs were beaten to death prompted a torrent of criticism.

Officials in the eastern city of Jining said Thursday they would kill all dogs within three miles of areas where rabies had been found, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The measure came in response to the deaths of 16 people from rabies in Jining in the last eight months, Xinhua said. It didn't say when the cull would begin or how the animals would be killed. It said the city had about 500,000 dogs.

Rabies cases are on the rise in China, with more than 2,000 people dying from the disease each year. Only 3 percent of the country's dogs are vaccinated against rabies.

Last week, a county in southwestern Yunnan province killed 50,000 dogs after three people died of rabies. The massacre provoked unusually pointed criticism in state media, while the activist group People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for a boycott of Chinese products.

Other slaughters have been reported elsewhere in China this year, although the government says it has no standard policy of destroying dogs.

"I think this is completely insane," Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Center, said Friday in response to Jining's announcement.

"What's more, this really damages our national image and sets a really bad example to show how lazy and inconsiderate those local government officials are," Zhang said.

Zhang said there were no laws under which citizens could stop the killings, but said she and other animal protection activists were reaching out through the media to try to change policy.

"I think this brutal and cold-blooded campaign should stop as soon as possible," Zhang said.

People answering phones at Jining's city government and epidemic control center refused to comment or said they weren't authorized to release information to media.

The World Health Organization has not directly criticized the slaughters, but WHO experts have said they underscore a lack of coordination and other problems with China's health care system.

The killings have prompted widespread commentary in state media and online forums, with opinions strong divided.

Rabies attacks the nervous system. In humans, it normally results in death within a week after symptoms develop.