China vs SARS: A good dog is a dead dog

[Guest guest]

The animal situation in China is worse than ever! If anyone hasn't sent their

letter to the Secretary General, of the China Wildlife Conservation Association

(CWCA), Beijing China, please do it now. As you will see from the following

article, the animals need our help. The dogs are being persecuted relentlessly,

for something they aren't even responsible for! We must be diligent in our

campaigning to get the Chinese government to end this cruel persecution of dogs,

and stop the torture/slaughter of all wild and companion animals. Please be a

voice for those who have none!

 

China vs SARS: A good dog is a dead dog

By Asia Times Online Staff

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/EE31Ad04.html

 

HONG KONG - In Beijing's Fengtai district, a family living in an apartment

building in the Niwa neighborhood suspected that its pet dog, a Pekingese, had

become infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Upon suspecting

their pet's infection, a member of the family promptly threw the dog from the

family apartment's window, on the sixth floor of the building. The small but

tough dog did not die after its fall on to the sidewalk below. When the family

discovered this, they dug a small grave for the animal and buried it alive.

 

What is it that is driving people to turn into brutal killers of the pets that,

in many cases, they had cherished having at their sides for years? What is it

that has caused many of China's pet owners to kill their beloved pets without

even a shred of sympathy for the animals?

 

As SARS has spread through China's cities and countryside this year, there has

been a marked change in people's demeanor. The source of this change is unclear.

What's most frightening is reports in local media of how in the blink of an eye

spurious rumors or speculation have spread to every corner of the gigantic

country - and how many people believe such things. A couple examples of this

include the skyrocketing demand for vinegar to boil for disinfecting homes

through fumigation and the far-fetched notion that drinking mung-bean juice

could make one impervious to SARS. There's been no rhyme or reason to these

episodes. Now that scientists are saying that the virus originally came from

animals, a tragic fate has befallen the dogs of China. Scientists have yet to

arrive at any final conclusions, but the masses appear to have determined that

whatever animals they see on the street are as good as infected with the virus

and that they therefore must be eliminated.

 

Every local government is pushing extreme vigilance in the face of SARS, summed

up by the expression " ying shi er sheng " (things will appear as the trend

develops), and it seems that one after another, the people of various cities and

counties are interpreting this government-issued call in their own ways.

 

Snapshot one

A group of Beijing children not much older than 10 chase a dog that had been

hiding in a small nook. The dog had been abandoned by its owner. Some of the

children are carrying poles as they chase from behind. Others are pelting the

dog with stones as it runs. The group of children are laughing in a surprisingly

callous manner. A boy in the group says that beating dogs is part of the fight

against SARS.

 

Snapshot two

Nanjing's " Dog-Beating Corps " has come to the home of an elderly resident as a

result of complaints from his neighbors. The man's neighbors informed the group

that the man's trash had a " bad odor " to it. Hence, " with the blessings of the

local police " , the Dog-Beating Corps forces its way into the elderly man's home

and bludgeons the eight stray dogs that the man has been caring for until they

are all dead and then clean up the mess. The vast majority of the man's

neighbors welcome this action and some even praise it.

 

Snapshot three

There are some panicking Beijing dog owners who fear that their pets are

infected with SARS, but are unwilling to force their dogs on to the street where

they will be beaten to death. Hence they go to pet clinics in hopes of having a

veterinarian euthanize their dogs.

 

Snapshot four

Ever since the first SARS patient was discovered in the city of Hangzhou, a

large number of people have been abandoning their pets on the street in order to

avoid being infected. There's also a good many people who are calling the

municipal government and asking that the authorities collect their pets from

their homes and take care of them.

 

These saddening snapshots effectively depict the confusion of SARS and how, once

again, people who are desperate for answers are shooting arrows in the dark,

hoping that their efforts will have some effect on a situation that is out of

any individual's control.

 

In this nationwide attack on dogs, there has been a constant war of words

between the two camps divided by the issue. The advocates are people such as

those in the Dog-Beating Corps in Nanjing, where local media have fueled the

attack with bloody pictures reminiscent of the Nanjing Massacre committed by the

Japanese army in the then-capital of China during World War II. Opponents are

typically animal-rights activists who are, not surprisingly, outraged. These

opponents offer the argument that it is not known for sure whether animals can

transmit SARS to humans, but it is indisputable that humans are capable of

transmitting the virus to other humans. If it's acceptable to kill dogs now,

then surely it is acceptable to kill humans, they argue.

 

Non-participating supporters of the attacks on dogs are quite numerous. The

dominant view among them seems to be, " We should value the lives of dogs. At the

same time, we should respect human life. There is no way that one can argue that

a human's life has the same value as a dog's. SARS has already mutated, so we

shouldn't underestimate the potential it has to wreak further havoc. So it's

necessary to work constantly to protect human life. "

 

The wave of violence against dogs in Nanjing leaves one with a deeply troubling

feeling. Despite the lack of any conclusive scientific evidence that proves that

SARS can be spread to humans by animals, many people are deciding to slaughter

the city's dogs out of suspicion, treating dogs as if they are not living

creatures. At the present stage in China's SARS episode, the entire country from

top to bottom should focus its energy, its time and its human, financial and

material resources on learning practical and verifiable information from its

experiences in the anti-SARS battle. There is no reason for the country to get

tangled up in problems that don't exist.

 

Nanjing's and Beijing's dogs and puppies have already been pretty much killed

off wholesale. Meanwhile, other cities in China are continuing to kill dogs in

what appears to be an unnecessary front in the " People's War " against SARS.

 

Translated by Christopher Horton.

 

Please send your letter to:

 

Mr. Chen Run Shen, Secretary General, China Wildlife

Conservation Association (CWCA), Beijing China. - email: cwca @

public3.bta.net.cn (remove spaces)

fax: 8610 - 64238030

 

Dear Mr. Chen Run Shen,

 

We understand that the China Wildlife Conservation

Association and Dr. David Chu Yu-lin are spearheading the call to ban the

trading and consumption of wild animals in China. We congratulate your

endeavours so far, which have now led to Guangdong banning the hunting, trading

and consumption of wild animals and we encourage the escalation of this

initiative into all provinces across China.

 

Further, we encourage Dr. Chu Yu-lin's call for the

end in consumption of dogs and cats, in the belief that these two species are

helping communities

across the world as companions and friends of

humankind. We hope that you too will support such a ban, and implore the

relevant authorities to

follow the good example of the Government of Taiwan who made the practice of

eating dogs and cats illegal in January 2001.

 

Congratulations to you and all at the CWCA for all

your hard work and endeavours which are helping wild, endangered and domestic

animals in China.

 

Yours sincerely,

Name

address

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END OF SAMPLE LETTER

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Rita Fazio,

Media Liaison, Sirius

Global Animal Org. Charitable Trust. http://sirius.2kat.net

 

Korea Animal Protection Society (KAPS)

International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA)

http://www.koreananimals.org/index.htm

 

voicesforRahkim/

" The time will come when men such as I will look upon

the murder of animals as now they look upon the murder

of men. - Leonardo da Vinci "