500,000 more dogs threatened, second chinese cull - Page 1

View news page for more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5244304.stm Add your name to the 25,000+opposing this crime (goal: 50,000 signatures) Sign this petition calling on the US Ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt, to urge the Chinese government to adopt a rabies prevention program and stop such cruelty from happening again! This is the most horrific crime against animal rights. Make your voice heard, hopefully it will make a difference.

Thanks, I'll copy this to some other lists too. It's beyond belief to see something this barbaric happening in the 21st century.

Please, where do I find that petition? Thanks so much.

I would like to sign the petition too for all the good it will do. Remember Tienamin Square? Do you really think that they will care about dogs? Except maybe caring about how the dogs are fixed for dinner.

Here is information directly from one of the most important listserves concerning infectious disease. If you forward this post, please forward the entire article. It is horrific that the Chinese authorities try to deal with the problem in such a way, but there are many, many thousands of dog bites each year and the statistics at the end of the article highlight how many hundreds of people have contracted rabies. In light of the fact that many Germans I know have visited China and are selling dogs to Chinese citizens, this might make one think twice about it. China is a country that still has many serious problems to solve. Hodie -------------------- RABIES, CANINE, HUMAN - CHINA (SHANDONG) **************************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Date: Sat 5 Aug 2006 From: Pablo Nart Source: The Guardian, 4 Aug 2006 [edited] A Chinese city has ordered the destruction of all dogs within a 3 mile radius of a rabies outbreak -- the 2nd major cull in less than a week. Officials in Jining, the provincial capital of Shandong province, refused to reveal how many of the city's 500 000 dogs would be killed in the latest cull, which was ordered after the deaths of 16 local people this year. Animal rights groups have condemned the extermination campaigns, which they say are cruel, disproportionate, and evidence of the failure of the country's vaccination and monitoring campaigns. The outrage was sparked this week, when it emerged that police and public health officials in Mouding -- a county in Yunnan province -- clubbed, electrocuted, and buried alive 50 000 dogs to control the disease. Regardless of vaccinations, no animal was spared apart from police and army dogs. An official from Jining's centre for disease control and surveillance said: "I cannot reveal any information because this is an epidemic situation and I need authorisation to talk." But the state media said all dogs within a 3 mile radius of every rabies case would be slaughtered. A total of 16 villages inside the municipality have been affected by the disease. Mad dog disease, as rabies is called in China, [has killed] 2651 people in 2004. The number of cases has risen steadily in recent years because of a rise in pet ownership and an irresponsibly low -- 3 per cent -- vaccination rate.

Continued from above: ----- But the World Health Organisation [WHO] says the recent countermeasures have been excessive. "Rabies is a big problem for China and it is one that is probably under-reported," said Roy Wadia of the UN agency's Beijing office. "But we don't encourage this sort of dramatic culling. There would be no need for it if adequate vaccination and surveillance measures were in place." Animal rights groups have complained that the slaughter is indiscriminate. "This inhumane act has damaged China's international reputation," said He Yong, of the International Federation for Animal Welfare. "Simply killing dogs is no answer to rabies." In the absence of a strong health system and effective monitoring and reporting of diseases, China has frequently had to resort to mass culls. The SARS outbreak in 2003 prompted the destruction of countless civet cats. The bird flu epidemic has led to the slaughter of millions of ducks and chickens. [byline: Jonathan Watts] -- To properly assess the (apparently excessive) control measures applied by the Shandong authorities, it would help to obtain data on the number of owned dogs vs. stray or abandoned dogs. In a rabies-stricken area, dogs are expected to be vaccinated, muzzled and leashed. The following figures related to number of reported human rabies cases (= mortalities) since 1995, are derived from WHO Rabnet website: 1995 - 400 1996 - 159 1997 - 230 1998 - 234 1999 - 373 2000 - 505 2001 - 899 2002 - 1532 2003 - 2009 2004 - not available, but according to the above newswire this was 2651;