Tibetans upset at China's move to rid Lhasa of its revered dogs

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Tibetans upset at China's move to rid Lhasa of its

revered dogs

 

--

By Damien McElroy in Lhasa

Telegraph, 21/09/2002

 

The narrow back streets of Lhasa, once a cacophony of

barks and growls from

the city's dogs, have gone quiet. Chinese authorities

in the Tibetan

capital, which gave the world the Lhasa apso, one of

the most exotic of dog

breeds, have begun a campaign to exterminate its once

untouchable canine

population.

 

Qiqi, a Lhasa apso owned by a Chinese shopkeeper at

the back of the

forbidding 12-storey tower occupied by the public

security bureau, is a

rarity in its native city. Thousands of other dogs

have perished since the

city government issued a new regulation last year

requiring the registration

of all dogs.

 

" To ensure that dogs are kept in confinement we have

introduced a new

licensing system, " said Zhang Maofeng, a bureaucrat.

" So far virtually no

one has complied so to ensure that the environment is

properly regulated we

have ensured that there are no wild dogs anymore. "

 

To practising Tibetan Buddhists, who make up about 40

per cent of the

capital's population, the mass execution of strays is

a sacrilege, a

violation of the cycle of reincarnation. Tibetans

believe that the soul,

especially the soul of a high lama, is frequently

reborn in a dog as the

last stage before becoming human.

 

" We regard this as being as bad as killing a human

because the dog is

nearest to us in reincarnation, " said Setrar Tsering,

a Lhasa resident.

" Dogs are very faithful to us and we are very fond of

dogs. Even people on

pilgrimage will bring food to feed strays along the

way. "

 

The dogs have been fed and indulged by generations of

residents despite a

reputation as being viciously territorial and rabid.

The Communist

authorities in Lhasa, as in other parts of China, see

dogs as a threat to

public safety and harmful to the image of the city.

 

The operation is just one of many manifestations of

the cultural divide in

the Tibetan capital, which is deepening even as China

steps up its efforts

to integrate Tibet with the " inland " .

 

 

 

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Friends of dogs

http://www.friendsofdogs.net

Dogs brighten our life with their gift to love and bond. It is our turn to help

our dogs. Please help organisations who are fighting to get dogs out of food

chain.

 

http://www.koreananimals.org/

http://sirius.2kat.net

http://www.animalsasia.org/ http://www.linisgobyerno.org/special_projects.htm

 

 

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