(CN) Even vaccinated dogs not safe from slaughter

October 26, 2006

South China Morning Post

Thursday, October 26, 2006

by JANE CAI

A national campaign against rabies has grown like wildfire this year -

more than 20 years after the last serious outbreak - resulting in the

slaughter of countless dogs.

In August, 50,000 dogs in Mouding county, Yunnan , were culled when

the county government received a report that three people had died

after being bitten by dogs in July and August.

More than 4,000 vaccinated dogs did not escape the slaughter because

the county government said it could not tell if the dogs were safe.

Vaccines help prevent rabies but do not work to treat the animal if

it has already caught the virus.

Health authorities say that when someone is bitten by a dog, they

should wash the wound for at least 15 minutes and quickly get a

rabies vaccine - treatment that should be effective.

The unchecked culls have met with strong criticism from international

animal protection organisations. The Humane Society of the United

States has offered to give China US$100,000 to vaccinate dogs if it

promises to immediately stop the mass slaughter. It also sent an open

letter to the Chinese ambassador in Washington to call for better

ways to address rabies control.

The central government has not yet responded to the offer.

In August, the city government in Jining, Shandong, killed all dogs

within a 5km radius of 16 villages following the death of 16 people

from rabies this year. Jining had 500,000 dogs but authorities did

not say how many were killed.

The killing continued last month, but government-hired teams ran into

opposition from farmers in Shangjiangcheng village, Dongguan, in

Guangdong.

After about a dozen dogs were killed, the farmers beat the hired

teams with iron bars, claiming their watchdogs had been culled.

In bigger cities the campaign is just starting. Beijing, Tianjin and

several other cities have recently started long-term projects to

inoculate dogs, close down illegal dog markets and punish residents

if their dogs bite people.

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