In an effort to combat rabies, the Chinese government has, in the past, ordered people (in certain provinces) to hand over their pet dogs to be killed in what seems, to me, like a case of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Last year, 50,000 dogs were killed in Yunnan Province, China, many of which were pummeled to death in front of their owners. For many people, pets are like children, so how devastating must that have been?! Now, a district in the city of Chongqing has just mandated that all dogs be destroyed, although government guard dogs, research animals and those kept for military and commercial purposes, for some reason, would be exempt. Owners have until March 15, to voluntarily hand over poor Fido, otherwise the police will forcefully remove the animals.I understand the need to contain the rabies problem in that country, but rather than arbitrarily slaughtering thousands of household pets, why not implement mandatory rabies inoculations for pets? It would seem like a simpler solution, but the Chinese government, for some silly reason, is always reluctant to admit to its inability to control certain health issues. Anyone remember Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)? China turned out to be 'ground zero' for SARS. It took almost 3 months before they actually reported the epidemic to the World Health Organization (WHO), which resulted in major delays in controlling the deadly outbreak. Only a very small percentage of household pets are vaccinated against rabies (approximately 3%), which is ridiculously low.
Why not vaccinate rather than exterminate? I'm sure Fido and his owner would prefer that option.
18 comments:
All I needed to look at was that pictures... :(.
Once again, Incog, you have written a pile of trash about a culture you know little of.
Have a look at the provinces where this is taking place and try and see how you would initiate any sort of decent plan to combat rabies aother than termination.
Chinese people treat animals very differently from you or I. 'Poor Fido?' What are you talking about? It's very rare for mainland Chinese people (especicially outside the major metropolises) to treat any pet as part of the family. Even here in Hong Kong they treat them like crap. Killing an animal in China is like swatting a fly, they have a very different attitude towards animals, including pets.
I was in mainland China last week and ate in a restaurant where the animals were killed brutally infront of us. These included dog.
I'm not going to complain about it, it's what happens a lot in China and it's perfectly normal for this to happen.
Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean they don't. They think it's normal.
Try and grasp the concept of different cultures. It's crap like this that your country, your people and your way of life, a very bad name.
"Try and grasp the concept of different cultures. It's crap like this that your country, your people and your way of life, a very bad name."
No Purient it is the moral relativism of the left that has corrupted your world view. Sorry Pally not all cultures are equal, barbarism is barbarism no matter how you slice it.
One of the challenges of politician's is finding the middle ground. How about vaccinate by March 15 or surrender poor fido.
Even if the culture is different you can't broadly state that no one in China love's their pet.
It is precisely this that is insulting. When you treat all people the same when multiple approachs would work as well or better, you destroy an opportunity to strengthen the people's love and respect for the government.
Amazing the things the left is willing to excuse China for, and the things they bash the US for.
purist,
as a follow up, compare your casual attitude to the Chinese killing these animals like swatting flies, to the outrage of Islamic cartoons and using non-PC words to describe people.
What a crazy world. Maybe the Chinese need small animal sensitivity training.
Purist, having been born, lived and traveled abroad, for a great part of my life, I think I have a great appreciation for other people's cultures, but that doesn't mean I have to approve of those customs I find appalling. Just because female genital mutilation is common in many african countries, doesn't make it acceptable. What about honor killings? Do we just stand by and say, well that's part of the Islamic culture, it's okay to stone someone to death. Or do we try and educate people to a more enlightened way of conducting their lives. Why can't the Chinese government, as dictatorial as they are, require rabies vaccinations for all household pets? They mandate one child per couple.
As for Chinese not caring a whit about their household pets, I am going to assume you didn't bother reading my links, because from what I gathered, there was just as much outrage from the Chinese people as there was from the West.
And, if it was our government doing the same thing, I would have been just as critical.
And if countries truly want to become part of the global village by joining the EU and other such organizations they need to start becoming more civilized and enlightened.
I did read your link incog. Being a journo myself I like to see what sources writers have quoted.
Look at YOUR link and see who is quoted to make this story what it is.
Have you seriously just heaped honour killings and killing pets to stop rabies into the same basked.
Jesus titty-fucking Christ, I give up.
AKA Purist
I suspect Lamebent that had it been the USA instead of the Chinese you would have had a hissy fit.
A recent briefing to the Teachers covered a wide range of topics but caused us to look at the world with real eyes not those rose colored one's we normally wear. There are more Gifted Students in China that there are students in the USA. There are more English speaking people in China than there are people in the USA. Their ability to pay to have millions of pets given the rabies vaccine is a tax they almost can't handle. The Chineese pets aren't held in the same hig esteem there as ours are here. Their solution to deal with a rabies outbreak may seem harsh by our standards but I think we need to focus on the really important human rights violations they are doing. I love my dogs but I don't much care about theirs. MUD
It sicken's me to hear things, like this, on how cultures treat their animals. On reading some of the comments made by some people earlier, what a bunch of sick people we have in this world, where you can sit there and watch a animal being murdered. Barbarism is barbarism no matter how you slice it. Like a reader said before.
Uh, well, Lambent/Purist.. here are quotes from that article "Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Center. The killings in Yunnan prompted unusually pointed criticism in state media, with many commentators saying it signaled how little capacity the local government had to deal with routine health issues.The killings have also prompted a slew of impassioned postings in online forums.“Tens of thousands of people die in traffic accidents each year, but we don’t ban cars. Dogs are simply easy to persecute,” said one unsigned posting on Xinhua’s electronic bulletin board."
As far as I can tell, Zhang Luping, is a Chinese name. And the fact that the state media was critical, makes me believe that there was outrage amongst the Chinese people, and not just meddling white, westerners.
And MUD, I can appreciate what you learned in your briefing. We all know that the Chinese (and others in the Pacific Asian region) eat dog-meat, so perhaps they don't hold their pets in such high esteem as we do, but I have no way of gauging that. And maybe the people, themselves, would not be able to afford to inoculate their pets, BUT, the government can! China is not an impoverished country, at least the State itself. So, as good commies, should they not undertake that task? Surely the government should be responsible for keeping rabies in check, and if that means vaccinating animals, then they should do that, by whatever means possible. In 2006, China had the the second-largest economy in the world after the US! Even though 130 million fall below the poverty line. Something to think about.
I'm beginning to think that you are not as old as you pretend to be.
Either that, or you are just very, very naive.
HA! how apt. The word verification below is 'tosser'.
BCF - absolutely not. There are far too many other issues to have hissy-fits about. How Americans treat animals does not concern me one iota.
We have an aircraft carrier in port this weekend. 5000 drunken Americans screwing whores in back-alleys. It's lovely out.
Anonymous - it's not possible to murder a pet. Humans are murdered, not other animals.
"We have an aircraft carrier in port this weekend. 5000 drunken Americans screwing whores in back-alleys. It's lovely out."
Puerile I betcha it was one of those aircraft carriers that rushed to the scene in the wake of the Tsunami - you know the ones that were able to provide fresh drinking water, food and medical supplies - long before the UN or other countries were able to get out of bed.
PS. I thought you were an advocate of licentious behavior - God forbid that you should wish to deny some potential future President his needed "life experience" or is this type of behavior only good for you but not others?
I wasn't aware I was *pretending* to be any particular age, Lambent. And in my biz, you usually *pretend* to be younger than you actually are. A result of the hazards of ageism in the entertainment industry. And perhaps I am naive, in some things, but certainly not when it comes to world affairs.
Touche, BCF. I was actually wondering the same thing.
Save 500,000 people or kill them? It doesn't seem to make much difference anymore, does it, BCF?
They'll send an aircraft carrier full of poorly-educated poor people, either way.
Lambent is that all you can muster? It isn't even coherent. C U LT8R.
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