50,000 dogs killed in China UPDATE on pg 2

**beeniesmom** · 08-01-2006, 09:41 AM

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** · 08-01-2006, 09:47 AM

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** · 08-01-2006, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by 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!!

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** · 08-01-2006, 10:07 AM

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

**elizabethann** · 08-01-2006, 11:32 AM

Just remember this story when you buy something that says:

MADE IN CHINA

You may not want the item afterall.

**lizbud** · 08-01-2006, 12:10 PM

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** · 08-01-2006, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by beeniesmom

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** · 08-01-2006, 07:12 PM

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

**beeniesmom** · 08-09-2006, 09:59 AM

follow up:

http://www.news4jax.com/news/9651888/detail.html

**Miss Z** · 08-09-2006, 10:20 AM

Good Gawd.

Just think of 50,000 dogs, far more than all past and present PT dogs put together, and all of them cruelly beaten to death for what I see as for the heck of it. They had no evidence to go on that the dogs were responsible for the disease, and it's possible, probable in fact, that not one dog was infected. Poor, poor creatures.