March 11, 2008: China's Cat Cleaning

[xoxoxoBruce]

From the Daily Mail...

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help clear the streets of them.

Cat owners, terrified by the disease warning, are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up by special collection teams.

Paranoia is so intense that six stray cats -including two pregnant females - were beaten to death with sticks by teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, who feared they might pass illnesses to the children.

China's leaders are convinced that animals pose a serious urban health risk and may have contributed to the outbreak of SARS - a deadly respiratory virus - in 2003.

Well, they do have to feed all those athletes and tourists.

[SPUCK]

Wonders never cease in CN.

Remember they had a big dog round up last year. They just showed up and demanded everyone's dogs. Then they came back late at night and made loud noises so they could zero in on any dog that barked. Killed'em all.

I see now the other shoe has dropped.

[auzmericans]

That is crazy, just looking at that picture makes me sad.

I mean, i'm not really a cat lover, but thats just cruel. I do have a cat, that I didn't ask for, was just kinda, thrust upon me, but now I love her and it just makes me feel bad inside looking at those poor cats in the picture.

[val5150]

So much needless pain could be saved, if only people would spay and neuter. These domestic animals all live to serve us one way or another, why must we be irrisponsible about serving them in return?

[Trilby]

Hi, auzmericans and val5150.

welcome to the cellar.


I hate the way the Chinese treat animals...but, then, look at the way they treat people...

[spudcon]

Those that don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. Back during the "Cultural Revolution," cats were proclaimed part of the "decadent western culture." They slaughtered lots of them before the mice and rats started out populating the people, so they stopped. It's gonna be interesting to watch the rat races as a new olympic sport.

[Shawnee123]

Maybe they could take their Olympic profits and use them toward public education, spaying and neutering, and the development of more humane ways to rid themselves of their feral cat population. Nah, they'll just invest in more lead paint. Let's send more money their way!

[LabRat]

Interesting indeed, spudcon.

[Sheldonrs]

Gosh, but China is KNOWN for their forward-thinking advancement of the rights of all living things.

[Cloud]

this, after they killed all the dogs for fear of rabies!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5233704.stm

They really don't like pets there!

absolutely abominable cruelty. Don't they realize people would rather see stray cats around than contemplate this abhorrent slaughter?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Cloud

Don't they realize people would rather see stray cats around than contemplate this abhorrent slaughter?

The quoted text of the article says the opposite, that the people want this to happen. They are putting their own beloved pet cats out on the street to be picked up by these guys because they are afraid the cats will make them sick and kill them.

Unless by "people" you mean Westerners watching from abroad.

Cat owners, terrified by the disease warning, are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up by special collection teams.

Paranoia is ... intense

[runswithknives]

Suppose we should start associating "Yellow Fever" as a disease only carried by the Chinese, shackle them in little cages and kill them at the edges of our cities? Almost as logical as what they're doing..

Fucking disgusting.

[Cloud]

well, yeah, I meant the visitors to the Olympics.

But there's an inconsistency. First the article says they are trying to clean up the streets for the Olympics. Then it says people are paranoid about disease?

the Chinese propaganda machine is obviously efficient. People spread far more disease than cats.

Ack! this just pisses me off. Stupid Olympics should be boycotted for China's violation of human and animal rights.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by glatt

The quoted text of the article says the opposite, that the people want this to happen. They are putting their own beloved pet cats out on the street to be picked up by these guys because they are afraid the cats will make them sick and kill them.
Unless by "people" you mean Westerners watching from abroad.

(bold mine)
And they're the next superpower?

Originally Posted by runswithknives

Suppose we should start associating "Yellow Fever" as a disease only carried by the Chinese, shackle them in little cages and kill them at the edges of our cities? Almost as logical as what they're doing..

Fucking disgusting.

Yeah, I'm scared of Da Fever. Round up time.

[janet]

There is supposedly a move away from lab animal testing in the US because of cruelty concerns. Is it being stopped? No, it's being outsourced - to China.

And the Chinese are hardly alone in the world with their attitudes about animals, unfortunately.