Chinese Death Squad Slaughters 50,000 Dogs

Death Squads in Yunnan Round Up 50,000 Dogs

Sickening news out of China ..............  What's worse is that the local Chinese government saw slaughtering every dog as the solution to dog attacks and a several reported cases of rabies. Read it and weep.  I did. 

After you weep - get your game on  to stop the spread of fear and ignorance.  Stand up for innocent dogs - and you too can Help Save Dogs & Democracy.

Zhang Liuhao - The Shanghai Daily

2006-08-01

ON Saturday, a woman was walking her dog - a small white animal she'd had for a long time - in a Yunnan Province alley.

Several men approached, talked her into handing them the leash and then beat the dog to death as the owner looked on in horror.

The killing was only a small part of a campaign by Mouding County government officials to slaughter 50,000 canines between July 25 and Sunday, local media reported.

The campaign was touched off by reports that at least three people had died recently in the county from rabies and many others had been bitten.

On Saturday, officials said that 90 percent of the dogs had been killed, and they expected to finish their work on Sunday.

Witnesses indicated the slaughter was often carried with the sort of dramatic elements found in a grade-B horror film.

Death Squads in Yunnan Round Up 50,000 Dogs - Continued

Around midnight, shadows would flash along the walls of homes as men carrying clubs made noises to set the village dogs barking. Homing in on the sounds, the men would find their quarries, and the barks would be replaced by shrill yelps as the animals were dispatched.

Only military dogs guarding an ammunition storehouse and police dogs were allowed to survive.

Dog Attacks

The campaign followed a series of human and livestock deaths and injuries from dog attacks.

This year, 360 of the county's 200,000 people reportedly suffered dog bites. Five were hospitalized since July 20 alone.

Since April, three people died of rabies in the county, one a 4-year-old girl.

Two cows and three pigs were also found dead after dog attacks.

Health authorities began to vaccinate the county's canines, but as the dog attacks increased, government officials decided they needed to take more drastic action.

To ensure public safety, the county government decided to kill all dogs. They set up a task force, led by the director of the public security bureau, to take charge of the campaign.

Authorities first encouraged dog owners to kill their own pets, offering a 5 yuan incentive (62 US cents), and then sent in the task force to finish those that escaped the first-round slaughter.

The midnight raids were carried out by the task force officers.

According to Chinese media reports, several methods were used to kill the dogs, including clubbing, hanging, electrocution and drugs.

Although most villagers said they understood the necessity for campaign, others thought it was brutal - and unnecessary. About 4,000 dogs in the county had been vaccinated against rabies.

A local veterinary authority official surnamed Liang explained that only 85 percent of the vaccinations would be effective, however.

"With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the dogs," Xinhua news agency quoted Li Haibo, spokesman for the county government, as saying.

Stop The Slaughter! Light A Candle, Save A Life

On Sunday, Aufust 20th - please light a candle with us to shed light on the fear and ignorance that is driving legislation and public health policy concerning dogs around the world.

Stop the spread of fear - stop the spread of ignorance.

Please hold a My Dog Votes Candlelight Vigil on Sunday, August 20th and we will list it here on DogPolitics.com and MyDogVotes.com

Please send an email to: info@mydogvotes.com with the words "Candlelight Vigil" in the subject line. Please incude:

• Your Name
• Group, If Any
• Email Address
• Location of Your Vigil - Address, City, State/Province, Zip or Postal Code
• Country
• How Many Will Attend

Please bring signs, candles and a camera to your vigil. Tell them to Stop Breed Bans, tell them to Stop The Slaughter, tell them to Stop Killing Innocent Dogs. And make sure you tell them that My Dog Votes™ !

Gather peacefully, respectfully. Thank you.

CALLING ALL YOU ANGELS - LIGHT A CANDLE – SAVE A LIFE

My Dog Votes

Comments

[jeff martines]

hello.
my comments are in relation to what you show as many dogs being killed/bucherd but this is also the case of 2 to 10 thousand people per year who are removed from there homes have been tortured for weeks then sign a confession then are given half an hour in court wich is a farce then shot in the head and now china is making death buse's a bus drives around villages to kill anyonw who fitts the description of the orders they have and this is directly linked to chinas booming organ donation sales....so dogs and humans are dying...just 2 years to go to the olimpics...IS YOUR NATION GOING???

[Lynn Zhou from Chongqing China]

I am so sad about this slaughter ,but I am even more frustrated by the following comments here.
When the killing happend, I almost cursed the govenment. I wept on the loss of innocent lives because I have seen many more pictures than is posted here. You will never understand our indignation. Some dog owner said to me "no one can kill her dog unless she is killed first!"
As you all, we are outraged by this event. I can understand if you blame the govenment and its stupid policy, just blame 'China's goventment' but not 'China', which stands for the innocent people more than the goventmen.

[Yuan Zhou]

As a Chinese dog lover, I am so shamed on my goverment what had they done.I just want to tell everyone that Chinese dog lover or dog owner are very sad and mad for dog attack happened in Yunnan as same as you felt.
Meanwhile I am very thankful my dog friends abroad to sent a letter to the Yunnan Government as well as the embassy protesting this outrageous brutality,and hopefully, letters from all over the world will flood their mails.
Believe me,Many Chinese people will never give up their dogs.
We will join "Candlelight Vigil" in Wuhan,China.
Let's work for our friend,love--dogs!!

[Cindy]

Wait a minute is it not China who has a law as to how many childern one can have? Consider their rabies issue a form of population control!LOL
On a more serious note, why we are surprised is beyond me. China has said for years it will take over the USA, question is when? They have been in the process for a long time, they will catch us off guard one day doing something as horrific as this. But it is not just China out to kill our dogs, our own government is doing just the same. The problem is we are an entire community of "loners", we no longer "help thy neighbor", things get done in mass numbers and until we realize we have only hurt ourself by allowing our own government the power to control us we too will end up loosing just like those in China.

[Sam The Dog Trainer]

I believe this is a campaign of political intimidation, and isn't just about dogs and disease. Who beats their OWN dog to death? Or goes about beating other people's dogs to death? There is more to this story that isn't being reported. Remember: this is a Communist nation that banned and killed dogs during the Cultural Revolution. Something stinks...

[Carina Hood]

Lets stop crying and lets unite and do something about this atrosity. Stop buying any animal by product fron China, no leather shoes, purses, clothing. Boycott, lets hit them in the pockets, now with us complaining we are just a nuisance, fanatical animal lovers. Well we are consumers too.

[steph]

This story has made me vomit. Literally. I've been sending emails to various sites asking them to please post about this horrific nightmare.

Thank you for writing about this.

Steph

[Merlin's Mom]

My heart breaks with this news.

Just imagine all the suffering, all the important breeding programs
that have come to an immediate, cruel halt, all the avoidable pain
these animals will have to endure. All because they can't get
organized in dealing with rabies. How stupid - killing the dogs won't
stop the rabies... what about their rats, cats, birds, bats, and other
well know rabie carrying fauna.

It is very hard to show compassion, humanity and respect to a people,
country and a society who allow these archaic, immensley cruel,
pathetic, ideology to constantly take place.

Boycott products from these countries, it's the only way to get their
stupid attention. Maybe if enough of us do that, they have to start to
catch up with the rest of the world. They may be one of the oldest
societies in the world, but they sure are one of the most uncivilized
socieites.

JMHO... sorry I had to vent. This news totally ruined my day.

MM

[crissa]

We haven't reached 50,000 but the Animal Control in Kansas City, in response to a recent dog attack by a dog originally identified by the media as a "pit bull" although the official word is that the breed is unknown, is rounding up pit bulls in the city and euthanizing them without exception. They are calling it "amnesty" for pit bull owners in violation of the ban to turn in their dogs to be killed. They just announced they will ONLY be taking pit bulls into the shelter at this time and until all the pit bulls are killed they will not accept any other breeds.

[Ann Gearhart]

In one of your Q and A's for response you list breed ban and spay neuter in the same question. I think these are two seperate issues and should not be asked in the same polling. I enjoy the information on your site. My dog votes with me and we are always interested in having people understand laws representing service animals and community legislation that is best for the animals and citizens in any neighborhood. It never ceases to amaze us how uninformed people are regarding our companion animals and how laws are posted for the good of the animals and people. It always angers us when we see animals not held in the regard that should be awarded to them as living beings here with us on earth. Thank you for your efforts to inform us.
Humanely - Ann Gearhart

[Ann Jackson]

There is so much sadness in the news about dogs. They give us everything they have, and we repay them in this way? Were I in china, I'm sure I would be dead now along with my dog, because I would not allow goons to do such a thing to my loved one! We have horrors in the US, but not this bad. I believe our State Department needs to get into this, and I'm going to suggest it (not that anyone listens to me . . .)
Is there going to be a candlelight vigil in the metropolitan St. Louis, MO area on Aug. 20? If so, i'd like to participate. Just email me.
Ann

[Kim Carnochan]

So scary what befalls animals in other countries!! It is bad in the U.S. but much worse in other countries.
We as dog lovers and companions must fight on all fronts for the protection of animals from the brutalities of human beings!!!

[Marianne]

glad i don't live in china. this reminds me of when a chinese emperor decided he didn't like birds..... no more birds after that.
poor people having to watch as the dog is clubbed to death, poor dogs dying in such a way :(

[Joan]

I found this hard to believe because I couldn't believe that China would have this many companion animals since they such a huge farming industry for dogs - so I googled the topic to see if I could find out anything - and this is actually a true story. Like so many other things about China - companion animals are something that is developing in that country, but there are some people who don't believe in it - only 10 years ago they lifted a ban on pet ownership in Beijing! There's some links to other stories on this topic at http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2006/s1630810.htm and http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/05/10/southChinadogs10.05.htm and http://app1.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2004/1118/fo6-1.html

Joan
Halifax, NS
http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/

[Adrianne]

Good thing we do not live in China, eh???
Talk about your extreme actions... sometimes it sounds like that's whre WE are heading here...