China county culls 50,000 dogs after 3 rabies deaths

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2 Aug, 2006| Updated at 0352hrs IST

 

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China county culls 50,000 dogs after 3 rabies deaths

[ 2 Aug, 2006 0316hrs ISTAP ]

 

 

SHANGHAI: A county in southwestern China has killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a

government-ordered campaign following the deaths of three local people from

rabies, official media reported on Tuesday.

 

The five-day massacre in Yunnan province's Mouding county that ended Sunday

spared only military guard dogs and police canine units, the Shanghai Daily

reported, citing local media.

 

Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten to death on the spot,

it said. Other killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get

dogs barking, then homing in on their prey.

 

Owners were offered 5 yuan per animal to kill their own dogs before the teams

were sent in, it said. The nearly indiscriminate brutality of the campaign drew

fire from critics in the press, while WHO said more emphasis needed to be placed

on prevention.

 

" Wiping out the dogs shows these government officials didn't do their jobs right

in protecting people from rabies in the first place, " Legal Daily, a newspaper

run by the central government's Politics and Law Committee, said in an editorial

in its online edition.

 

A WHO expert said effective rabies control required coordinated efforts between

human health, animal health and municipal agencies and authorities.