Animal lovers film deaths to end China dog slaughters (News Feature)

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By Simon Parry and Hazel Parry Jun 16, 2009, 2:32 GMT

Hong Kong - It is a scene to make the most ardent animal-hater wince. Pathetically unaware that it is just 30 seconds from death, a dog stands wagging its tail expectantly as three men carrying long bamboo poles edge towards it on a dusty village track. There is a second's pause before the first blow, delivered from behind, lands on the dog's neck. It yelps in surprise and pain then scrambles back and forth in panic as the poles crack down again and again, shattering its spine. To the laughter of his colleagues, one man steps forward and delivers the coup de grace: a deadly blow that cracks the skull. This is rabies control, China-style. In the space of just 10 days in May, 20,000 stray dogs were slaughtered in Hanzhong, central China, and surrounding towns and villages in response to a rabies outbreak that has led to the death of eight people since March. Secretly filmed images shot by animal lovers in this city at the heart of Shaanxi show gangs of men roaming the streets with poles and boulders, dead dogs piled up on wooden carts, the bodies of animals lying mutilated and bleeding by roadsides. 'I watched that video with absolute disbelief,' said Jill Robinson, founder of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation which is supporting groups in China campaigning for an end to the culls. It was not the first time dogs have been slaughtered on the mainland to eradicate a rabies threat. A nationwide cull took place in the months leading up to the Olympics, sparking international criticism. What made the Hanzhong cull unusual was its speed, scale and savagery. In rural villages, men who one week lived in friendly cohabitation with communities of semi-stray dogs were transformed into their executioners. One victim was the pet dog of 55-year-old housewife Bai Lihe, among 300 dogs culled in Xiayishui village. 'Doudou was small and he never bit,' a tearful Bai told her local newspaper. 'I had just had him vaccinated against rabies and they still clubbed him to death.' A neighbour, 26-year-old Bai Xinpeng, described how he had locked himself in his house with his three pet dogs. 'There used to be nearly 400 dogs in this village. Now it's hard to spot even one,' he said. Dang Zhengqing, party secretary for the county covering Xiayishui village, explained the official rationale for the cull, saying it had ended with the deaths of all stray dogs in the area and pronouncing: 'People are safer now from the (rabies) epidemic. 'I understand the public anger but we don't kill owned dogs on leash. The culling is extreme but necessary to combat the deadly epidemic. All lives are equally important but we decided to sacrifice dogs for human health.' But even in China's state-run newspapers, the necessity of the slaughters is coming under question. Tan Xiaodong, a public health professor at Wuhan University, told the China Daily newspaper there was 'no justification' for them. 'In addition to dogs, animals including cats and bats can also cause rabies. It's impossible to kill them all,' he said. 'To eradicate the disease, what is needed is long-term proper management and oversight over dog keeping.' It is an argument that appears to be gaining in weight as the voices of dog owners on the mainland become gradually stronger and more confident. Delegations of animal lovers have travelled to Hanzhong to press for more humane methods of disease control. 'Two years ago, this wouldn't be happening,' said Robinson. 'Now, people have found a voice and they are using it. People are standing up and becoming the voices for these defenceless animals.'

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Dr. Patricia JordanJun 16th, 2009 - 16:20:49

Why is there a rabies problem in CHina? Would this be due to a overpopulation of free roadming strays that encourage disease?
They have known since 1949 that only one vaccine for rabies administered to a mature immune system is suffecient to portect a dog for live from rabies.....only 1 vaccine (despite the rabies scam perpetuation in America...it is true only 1 vaccine will convey lifetime immunity)
So, does China have a dog rabies problem? Or do they have what America has, a bat rabies problem? In the US, due to the very use of mass inoculation programs of the pets and of the wildlife with oral vaccine baiting which is live virus........we have a bat rabies problem that has now mutated into a strain capable of jumping species (bat,skunk,fox) and with mere socialization.....although I am not clear on how bats, skunks and foxes would socialize. I am firmly in the understanding that the mass wildlife baiting in conjunction with the mass rabies inoculation programs is why we have this new mutant strain of rabies emerging in the US from Northern Arizona. In the world, we have had massive recalls both in 2004 and 2008 of the human rabies vaccines due to 'failure to inactivate the rabies virus', in CHina recently, they had not only people vaccinated against rabies become paralyzed, but they too have rabies vaccines recalled due to their adding unapproved human nucleic acid to the vaccine!
In China, is the truth shared with the rest of the world? Did the 8 people with rabies get rabies from eating dogmeat? Who would skin a rabid ddog to eat? Perhaps they are drumming up a reason to lower the overpopulation of stray dogs.....but they are open China now and the truth of what is really going on should come out!

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ItalianJun 20th, 2009 - 17:04:16

Who cares?

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Voice of the defenselessJun 21st, 2009 - 04:38:51

Many care because they are caring decent human beings. The measure of a man (or woman) can be seen in how they treat their animals. Mr. Italian I don't know what you care about but some of us do care about wrongs in the world.

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AmericanJul 6th, 2009 - 00:55:13

thats horable. yes people are dieing cuz of rabies but poor difensless animals cant help if they have rabies! they shouldnt sufer from a disise that can esaly be treated! what if someone had a deadldy diseise that spreds wed spend thousends of $$$$ to help them! not sloghter them!!!! we should do the same for animals! they have feelings! they feel pain! and they dont diserve such torture!!!! we r there only voise! im under 16 and i know thats the rong thing to do!!!!!!! come on people!!!!

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