NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
CHINA PREPARES FOR 2008 OLYMPICS
In preparation for the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in 2008, China has decided that it is time to tackle the problem of stray dogs. Due to fears of rabies, these animals are not generally eaten and have become widespread in some cities. Instead of introducing a plan of spay and neuter as has been done in many more civilised countries, the Chinese solution is far more immediate and, not surprisingly, brutal. Many photos on this page were taken in Cixi between 10th and 16th October 2004 where an unverified estimate of 40,000 dogs were slaughtered. The rest were taken in other Chinese cities through 2005 and 2006.
Long poles with a wire loop at one end are used by dog-wardens throughout the world as an efficient and safe method of catching dogs. But this is China and this device is put to a particularly Chinese use........
Here the operation is performed by a two man team. While one man holds the dog helpless with his pole, his partner beats it to death with his.
Not only is this done legally, but these men (police and volunteers) are paid a bounty by the local authorities for every dog they kill. All of which lends serious doubt to China's claimed intention to introduce animal welfare legislation.
These bands of killers roam the city streets slaughtering any dogs they find. Pet dog ownership is not encouraged in China, due both to the Chinese obsession with eating anything that moves, and to Mao Tse Tung's declaration of them to be a symbol of the bourgeoisie. The compulsory registration does not protect the animal either. Any dog found on the street is immediately killed, sometimes having been torn from the arms of their owners.
This has been repeated in other cities, with the blessing and encouragement of the national government.
Similar "cleansing operations" have been carried out in the city of Guilin in Guangxi Province in December 2004, in Guangzhou city in September 2005, in Mouding county in Yunnan Province in July 2006, in Jining the provincial capital of Shandong province in August 2006, and in Beijing itself in November 2006. There may well be others of which we are unaware.
On 13th December 2006 the South China Morning Post reported that Chinese President Hu Jintao had intervened to halt the killings, implying that this was a result of international media coverage and emails/letters/petitions from both within and outside China.
The horror may not have been held in abeyance for long, however. At the beginning of March 2007, it was reported that the people of Chongqing had been given until 15th March to kill their dogs themselves, after which date their pets would be at the tender mercies of the state. On the 16th this decree was apparently amended to only apply to unvaccinated and/or stray dogs, for the time being at least. We'll update this page as soon as reliable information becomes available.
LATEST REPORTS INDICATE THAT MASS CULLING IS DUE TO COMMENCE IN CHONGQING ON 10 JUNE 2007.
These photos of a woman begging police to spare her dog were taken by Reuters in Beijing, November 2006.
Her pleas were in vain.
Press Statement from Sirius, August 8th 2006
Sirius Global Animal Charitable Trust expresses its absolute horror and outrage at the massacre of 50,000 dogs in Yunnan, China.
While it is unfortunate that 3 people died from rabies, this reaction from the Chinese authorities was both unbelievably cruel and ineffective in preventing the spread of rabies.
The saliva from infected bats, raccoons, foxes, skunks, dogs or cats and not only a bite, can transmit the rabies virus. Given the Chinese culinary preference for eating all of the above, it is no wonder that this disease is prevalent in their country. Rabies is present mainly in wild animal hosts from which the disease is transmitted to domestic animals and humans.
There are highly effective vaccines available.
Additional human deaths could easily have been prevented with a vaccination program. Preventative vaccines could have been administered to the dogs instead of bludgeoning them to death.
Tragically a large number of the dogs slaughtered were vaccinated, which leads one to question the reasoning for ordering this huge indiscriminate slaughter.
The World Health Organisation has also expressed its horror at this slaughter and concurs that there were other non-violent means of dealing with this situation.
It was not necessary for 50,000 dogs to be sacrificed because 3 humans died!
There is a connection between the mistreatment of animals and humans. What does it say to those viewing this gratuitous violence about the value of life, any life? Even for a country where human life is still undervalued, this was an extreme overreaction which will not accomplish the goal of eradicating rabies.
We therefore request that people write to the Chinese Government via its Ambassadors to discontinue the use of culls and instead implement a vaccination program for both animals and humans. Please go to http://sirius.2kat.net/cixiguilin.html and scroll to the bottom of the page for Embassy contact details.
The World Health Organisation and The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have been instrumental in helping to eradicate this disease from other parts of the world. It is time China accepted help!
It is also up to China to stop contributing to the problem with its bacteria-laden and unregulated meat markets. Sixteen people have died from rabies in Jining prefecture, Shandong province in the last 8 months. We will never know how many of these ate infected meat.
We think enough is enough!
Elly Maynard President/Founder
Sirius GAO Charitable Trust
Due largely to the frequency with which Chinese Government email addresses change, we are no longer listing them. You may be able to send an email to President Hu Jintao but we can't guarantee this address will work. Please also send polite emails to the Chinese embassy in your country. If you can, please write an original, although an example is provided here.
In 2008 when Beijing hosts the Olympic Games, your country will become the focus of more media attention than it has faced for many years. Obviously you want to present an image of a forward looking and compassionate nation. Any efforts you are making to this effect are however being completely undermined by the handling of the stray dog problem in your cities. Photographs of the barbaric dog massacres in Chinese cities are circulating freely on the internet and cause revulsion and disgust amongst those who see them.
I understand that the stray dog population is a cause for concern, and that it poses a threat of rabies. Other countries have however faced this problem in the past and dealt with it successfully without having to resort to employing men to beat dogs to death. Spay and neuter programs where the animals are returned to the streets are a humane and efficient solution. The life of a street dog is not long. Such a program started now would ensure that this problem is prevented from recurring in the future without involving bloodshed or earning international contempt. There are many governments and organisations experienced in these programs who would be very pleased to give you information on how this method could be implemented in China.
The Olympic Games present China with a rare opportunity to show the world that it is ready to take its place in the civilised world. To do this, it must show that it can demonstrate compassion by handling problems such as this without resorting to mass slaughter, as it did with the civet cats during the SARS epidemic. The "bamboo curtain" is becoming increasingly transparent and your country's treatment of its animals is attracting as much attention in the West as its record on human rights.
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News from China is not always easy to get, but we will update this page as more becomes available.
ADDED 27/01/08
The videos below were posted on Youku (the Chinese version of YouTube) in December 2007. They are NOT of the dog culls but are simply examples of the vicious and cowardly cruelty that is inflicted on dogs in China on a daily basis. You may want to turn the sound off before you watch them - the pathetic cries of the helpless victims will haunt you. You can get more background on these videos at Shanghaiist and virtual-china.org.
The following email was received from a citizen living in Beijing on 8th November 2006. It is reproduced verbatim. 1,000RMB is worth roughly 127USD (14/11/06). The average ANNUAL income of a Beijing factory worker in 2004 was 12,300RMB according to the China Daily.
Dear Mrs Maynard,
I have read the report on your website SIRIUS: http://sirius.2kat.net/cixiguilin.html
And I have to say thank you very much for what you have done for all the dogs in China. I'm truly very appreciating.
I work in Beijing (BJ), and also keep dogs. They are all abandoned by their original owner and adopted by me and my wife. We all very appreciate your effort for helping the dogs in China, and if it's possible, we hope that you can continuously to help them and spread this news all over the world. Let everyone know what China government done such a slaughter things to dogs.
I have seen the letter you wrote to China embassy. No use, right? And I have to tell you sadly. Recently the capital of China, BJ also began to catch the dogs, because the same reason --- 10 people died due to the rabies. However, all of them are infected outside BJ (News is release by People Daily, one of government newspaper). Many dogs owners in BJ are holding together and searching any way to protect the existing right of dogs in China. We prepare to hold an activity in front of BJ zoo on 11/11 to deprecate what government done to the dogs and strive for the existing right for all the dogs in China.
Till now, according to my analysis, China government manage the dogs issues not only because the rabies. The other reasons are due to Olympic Game is coming and a stupid restricting breeding law. In that law, restrict people to breed any dogs higher than 35cm, only because they feel the dogs more than 35 cm high are more dangerous than dogs fewer than 35cm high. It's non-scientific and ridiculous!!! According to this kind of stupid law, those dogs more than 35cm high will all be caught and put in prison.
There is also a big problem of dog management in China --- No-ID dogs. China government always complain that the no-id dogs in China are too many, so that it due to difficult management by government. However, in my opinion, this result is due to unreasonable ID fee of dog. You must know that the income of China people is not as much as many western countries (even other Asia countries, like Japan, Taiwan, Singapore...etc.). But the ID fee of dogs in China is much more expensive than those countries I mentioned. (For example: ID fee of dog in BJ is 1000RMB at first year and after have to pay 500RMB each year continuously. But this fee in Singapore is just 100RMB at first year.) Due to the unreasonable high ID fee, many dog owners can't burden and reject to apply an ID for their dog. So that how many dogs have been injected the bacterin is difficult to be managed by government.
Get to button of dogs issues in China; I think that is due to government's wrong managing method. At first, reduce the ID fee of dog to a level that can be burdened by most dog owners. With this, most dogs have ID and it will benefit the dog management and bacterin injecting control. Second, abrogate the 35cm restricting law. With this kind of law to bereave dogs' existing right, it is not only unfair to dogs but un-humanistic.
Due to the 2008 BJ Olympic Game, China government uses a worse way to deal the dog issue. Slaughter?killing?prison?I can't imaging that why a country that will held the Olympic Game can do such kind of things. Does this what Olympic Game want to bring to us? Dear Mrs Maynard, if you have any possible channel to contact with International Olympic Committee (IOC), I hope that you can tell them this information. We do need your help, and thanks for what you have done for dogs in China. If you need any newest information about dogs in China, I'm glad to help.
Now most Chinese don't eat the dogs, and there are more and more people love dogs like me. I know that there are still many people eat dogs in several provinces in China, but compare to people who love dogs, they are the minority. Please don't let those people's bad behavior to influence your feeling of Chinese. We love dogs, and this is why we stand out to face the China government. Yes, I fear... because China is not a democracy country, there is no liberty of speech. BUT I have to...
PS: The attached file is I prepared to send to my friend in the foreign.
Dog saver
The sender's identity has been withheld for fear of repercussions. The file he refers to is reproduced below. Click here to download as a Word document.
Please help us, help whole dogs in China… Sharing this news with your friend and post it on each famous news website all over the world… Let all the world know that a country - China which will holding the 2008 Olympic Game, how they treat the dogs. Due to the Olympic Game is coming; the government of China strengthens the management in homeless dogs and restricted dogs.
The definition of restricted dogs in most provinces in China is according to the restricted law in Capital - Beijing. This law restricts the people in Beijing to breed the big dogs, and the definition of big dog means any dogs whose high is more than 35cm. Due to this stupid and non-scientific law, many tameness "big dogs"took away from their home, then sent to dogs prison likes the pictures attached. Most people who had breed dogs all know that how fierce a dog does not relate to its high but its breed. So, using a 35cm restriction to take away the existing right, it is unfair to big dogs. (This prison maybe the best one in China…I can not imagine any others.)
What we want is very simple. Please give dogs the existing right in China, and don't use the non-scientific restricted law to bereave dogs' right and life. You can blame their owner for in-civilization activities, but dogs are harmless. I think that it should not be the activities of a country which will host the Olympic Game. Or does this what Olympic Game bring to us?
On the 11th November 2006 a demonstration was held in Beijing to protest this brutal and inhumane treatment of these animals. Click here for reports and photos.
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