Guest guest Posted August 11, 2006 Report Share Posted August 11, 2006 Dogs culled after rabies death (Shanghai Daily) 2006-08-09 Officials in Jinshan District are rounding up unlicensed dogs and slaying them after a 59-year-old man died of rabies on Saturday morning. The Shanghai Public Health Center yesterday confirmed Jin Weiren contacted rabies after his two dogs bit him earlier this year. The Jinshan District Disease Prevention Center has sterilized the man's residence in Luxiang Town and vaccinated anyone who had close contact with the victim. District police have also launched a blanket search of the area for unlicensed dogs. They wouldn't say how many unlicensed canines have been seized and killed so far. According to police, Jin was rushed to the town's medical clinic on August 1, then transferred to a district hospital. He finally died at the Shanghai Public Health Center at 12:20am on Saturday. Jin was bitten twice on the left hand by a female dog he kept and one of its puppy in January and July of this year. The man did not receive medical treatment for the wounds until August 1 when he came down with the illness, police said. Zhou Yaowei, an official from the Shanghai Public Health Center, said Jin was very ill by the time he arrived at hospital. " If a person really develops the disease, there is a slim chance of saving the patient under present medical capabilities, " he said. Zhou said it is important for anyone who has been bitten by a dog to immediately go to hospital for treatment. He noted, however, that rabies is not common in the city, although the disease is prevalent in other parts of the country. According to the Shanghai Health Bureau, one migrant person died of rabies in the first half of this year. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-08/09/content_660182.htm ............................... China debates killings of dogs (Xinhua) 2006-08-11 After two local governments ordered mass killings of dogs following a rabies outbreak, a heated debate has emerged about that method of rabies control. The local government of Mouding County, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, killed 54,429 dogs from July 25 to 30 after discovering 357 locals had been bitten by dogs so far this year and that three people had died of rabies. The local government of Jining City, in east China's Shandong Province, did the same, after the city's 9 counties and districts and 14 townships reported several outbreaks of rabies that have claimed several lives. Dog lovers consider the local governments' actions horrific. " If these dogs weren't vaccinated, that's people's fault and dogs should not be made to pay for human negligence, " said Tang Bing, a tourism official. " The mass slaughter of dogs is cold-blooded. Governments should detect dogs with rabies and put them down in a humane manner, " said Stone Chen, a 22-year-old journalist and dog owner. Protest letter Fourteen animal protection associations from all over the country wrote a letter to protest the two governments' mass slaughter policy. They said rabies had broken out in other parts of the country in the past, but local governments had curbed the spread of the contagious disease by strengthening vaccination work and killing vagrant dogs. Other citizens believe the mass slaughter of dogs in the event of a rabies outbreak is necessary. An Internet user left a message on Xinhuanet.com saying that thousands of unvaccinated dogs in a county would pose a huge threat to the public. Ding Zhengrong, a local epidemic prevention official in Yunnan Province, said if advance measures could be taken to prevent an outbreak of rabies, there would be no mass killing of dogs. " Compulsory vaccination of all dogs is a solution, " Ding said. He added some urban families failed to register and vaccinate their dogs because of the expensive fees. In Jining City, in Shandong Province, it costs a family 4,500 yuan (US$565) to register and vaccinate a dog. The high cost reduces registrations and increases the risk of rabies outbreaks, Ding said. In vast rural areas, there is no clear-cut dog registration and vaccination system. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-08/11/content_662187.htm ............................... Health official recommends vaccinating dogs (AFP) 2006-08-11 BEIJING - A controversial mass slaughter of dogs in China may not be necessary with recent incidents of rabies. " Rabies is not on the rise overall, " vice health minister Jiang Zuojun said when asked about recent orders in two provinces to kill over half a million dogs. " In such a big country, it's normal for a few cases to occur, " a health official said Thursday. Jiang said the rabies cases were mostly in the countryside, an area where pet dogs were not widely vaccinated against the disease. He recommended vaccinating dogs rather than mass killings when asked about how to deal with the recent rabies cases. News last week of plans by authorities in the eastern province of Shandong to kill up to half a million dogs, following the death of 16 people from rabies in the past eight months, made headlines worldwide. The deaths occurred in 16 villages in Jining prefecture, where 500,000 dogs were kept as pets or guard dogs, state press reported last week. Local epidemic prevention authorities had ordered the killing of all dogs within a five-kilometer (3.1-mile) radius of each village, state press said. A county in southwest China's Yunnan province a week earlier ordered 50,546 dogs killed after rabies led to the deaths of three people. Owners have been ordered to kill their pets or face having teams of local police club the dogs to death in front of them. Some owners have used methods including hanging their dogs, electrocuting them and clubbing them to death, while others used drugs, according to state press reports. The canine slaughter ignited massive opposition from animal rights activists and others on Internet chatrooms and Chinese media. " If local officials had raised awareness and done a good job of vaccinating dogs... they could have completely prevented this large scale slaughter of dogs, even when discovering cases of rabies, " said Beijing-based activist Liu Di, who runs a shelter for abandoned animals. People writing online said Chinese villagers were too poor to vaccinate their dogs and that was the core reason for the persistent rabies problem in China despite the existence of good vaccines. Liu was quoted by state media as saying she will appeal to the national legislature to stop such dog culls and to require the use of more humane and painless methods if dogs have to be put to death. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-08/11/content_662482.htm __ On 7 Messenger - Make free PC-to-PC calls to your friends overseas. http://au.messenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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