(CN - HK) Please stop this brutality!

[Guest guest]

Honorable Government Officials,

 

As news of Hong Kong's mass pig extermination travels the globe, the

public is outraged by accounts of shrieking animals left to die on floors soaked

in blood and brain matter. In the government's rush to phase-out pig farming

licenses, it has ordered the massacre of 40,000 or more breeder pigs.

Authorities assured farmers their surrendered pigs would be " humanely

destroyed. "

 

Instead, the government hopes to meet its year-end deadline with

gunshot-style killing inside the New Territories North Animal Management Centre

of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD).

 

As described in press reports, " A shooter with ear-shields on, holding a

Remington shotgun, was standing on a concrete platform three feet high above the

pigs. 'Bang!' Another pig fell to the ground. Although shot in the head, the pig

was still struggling hard, rolling from side to side with the pain.

The shooter did not give him a follow-up shot. " Some pigs agonize for five or

more minutes before succumbing to their wounds.

 

Animals shudder in the corner of the killing room, forced to watch the

shooter hook his next pig. This constitutes needless torment. In fact, the daily

massacres are so inhumane officials have outsourced killers to replace

government veterinarians who refused to participate.

 

Once again, we respectfully ask Chinese officials to make enforceable

animal protection laws a priority before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

 

The mass killing of pigs without electric stunning violates China's

" Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Ordinance, " which stipulates an animal must

not be " tortured or terrified. " Fully alert, bullet-riddled pigs are clearly

" tortured and terrified. " Food and Environmental Department (FEHD)slaughterhouse

regulations call for pigs to never endure unnecessary pain.

 

Photos and eyewitness descriptions show these pigs do not experience

instantaneous death. This is hardly an " internationally accepted method of

euthanizing pigs. " It is morally and legally reprehensible.

 

If this brutal extermination of pigs continues, it will irreversibly shame China

and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. What China saves in cheap, crude kill methods

-- it loses in revenue from Chinese tourism and products. We stand firm in our

boycott of Chinese travel and goods until authorities implement significant

reforms for pigs, dogs, cats, bears and all animals.

 

Thank you for accepting our comments on this matter of international

concern.

 

Sincerely yours,

Maria and Katerina Nika,

Animal advocates