Year of the Dog (2)

[Guest guest]

South China Morning Post

http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZHT0TJRGE.html

Saturday, January 28, 2006

 

It's a dog's life when the novelty value fades off

 

REUTERS in Shanghai

 

Many families will have been trawling pet stores ahead of the holiday

looking for a suitable and auspicious gift for the Year of the Dog.

But animal rights activists say that soon after bringing their dogs

and cats home, many people realise they are too much like hard work

and dump them on the street.

 

 

" New Year is twice as bad. Pick a year and then pick the animal, "

said Carol Wolfson, founder and director of Second Chance Animal Aid,

a Shanghai organisation that runs an adoption and shelter programme

for abandoned pets.

 

Abandoned animals are the dark side of the explosion in pet ownership

across the country in recent years. The national pet population hit

nearly 300 million in 2004, up 20 per cent from 1999, according to

state media.

 

Raising dogs was banned under Mao Zedong as a bourgeois pastime and

was only legalised a few years ago.

 

" People just drop their pets off outside the door. Often the cats are

sick with skin disease or have infections, " said Xia Jun, 24, who

runs the Shanghai Pet Association, which teems with abandoned cats

and dogs.

 

Some so-called animal protection organisations are not so altruistic.

 

Many have been found to be selling the cats and dogs they gather to

restaurants, with dog meat widely believed to keep out the cold in

winter.