(CN) Poisoned pets

[Guest guest]

Monday, August 1, 2005

South China Morning Post

http://focus.scmp.com/focusnews/ZZZE068MQBE.html

BEIJING

STEVEN RIBET

 

If the Bowen Road dog poisoner has been out of the news in Hong Kong

since April, that could well be because he has taken his nefarious

ways and moved to Beijing. Ten dogs died in two days after eating

poisoned meat left on the street, last month, on the Fangxingyuan

housing estate in the city's southern suburb of Fengtai.

A report in the local Legal Mirror on July 20 featured a picture of a

grief-stricken resident clutching the stiff body of her little Shih

Tzu, Yangyang, before lowering it into a grave she had dug near her

home.

 

Offerings of dog biscuits and pet toys placed at small shrines

dedicated to dead dogs have become common on the estate, according to

the report. Strangely echoing the city's Sars epidemic of two years

ago, owners have been clamping muzzles on their pets to prevent them

eating the killer's bait.

 

Poisonings are becoming more frequent as dog ownership surges in

Beijing. In another Fengtai estate, more than 10 pets were killed by

poison on July 29th and 30th last year. In June and July the year

before, some 30 died the same way at three locations. And, in a

bizarre bit of role reversal two months ago, restaurants in the

capital were put on alert by the city's Department of Hygiene when

customers became ill after eating poisoned dog meat. The tainted meat

had come from a man in rural Hebei province , who was making a living

by poisoning stray dogs and selling their contaminated carcasses.

 

One explanation for Beijing's increased dog population might be the

reduction in the cost of ownership licences from 5,000 to 1,000 yuan

in October 2003. But that change was really an attempt to regulate

the rapid increase in pet ownership, the vast majority unlicensed.

The underlying cause of the pet boom is undoubtedly higher disposable

incomes.

 

Even with the change in legislation, there are many areas where dogs

are forbidden, such as Tiananmen Square. In the urban areas of the

city, only small dogs can be owned.

 

This last restriction is probably a necessary feature of dog

ownership with Chinese characteristics. Small dogs make less mess,

for one thing, although Beijing's new dog lovers have been

impressively conscientious about cleaning up after their pets - as

opposed to their European counterparts. A small dog's bark is quieter

and, most importantly, it is a threat to no one over one-metre tall.

 

In the Chinese countryside, where rabies used to be endemic, poisoned

bait is an accepted method of dealing with nuisance animals. Should

Rottweilers and Dobermans appear in the capital's suburbs, then we

will surely see more incidents like those at Fangxingyuan.