Posted 3:17 PM by Blah blah

Pet Slaughter in China (News)

Oh my God! This is horrifying! Fearful Chinese slaughter pets in SARS hysteria (The Times):
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VIGILANTES and police have killed hundreds of cats and dogs in the most gruesome manner as fears grow in China that pets could be spreading the Sars virus. From Guangzhou in southern China, where the virus appeared, to Beijing, where thousands of people are infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome, pets have been strung up, buried alive, poisoned, thrown out of high-rise windows and beaten to death.

Some pet-owners have evacuated their cats and dogs, fearful that neighbours might seize and kill them. Others have asked vets to put down their pets humanely before a mob could catch them.

According to the World Health Organisation, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that pets have spread the virus, which is believed to have migrated from animals to human beings in the cramped farming communities outside Guangzhou, where many breeders share accommodation with their livestock.

The pet-killing spree illustrates how the Sars epidemic has led to mass hysteria in China, where government information on how to handle the virus lacks credibility, thanks to early obfuscation and denials.

Animal welfare organisations said that the killings of pets were not being carried out on the orders of officials, but in many cases police and local Sars investigators instigate or participate in the killings out of ignorance and fear of losing their jobs if Sars cases are found in their districts....

Animal welfare has never been a priority in China, where dog meat is available in restaurants and many adults can remember years of starvation. But the present ill-will towards pets is more than an expression of a general unconcern about animals....

Jeff He, of the International Animal Welfare Foundation, said: “Chinese people can’t find an outlet for their fears, so they vent it at animals.”

Many Chinese people have objected strongly to killing pets, but they are powerless as mob rule has been given new legitimacy by the Sars emergency. Across China, irate and frightened villagers have barricaded their settlements to keep out Sars and urban residents have been allowed to bar outsiders from their high-rise compounds. A siege mentality has taken hold in many of these Sars fortresses, guarded day and night by volunteers....

Yin Tieyuan, a vet in Beijing, said: "Every day we receive more than ten calls from people asking whether we could carry out mercy killing of their pets. The Chinese Government invested 20 years to change people’s thinking. With the efforts of many individuals and communities, the idea of loving animals was almost accepted. But in a very short time it’s all gone again."