(CN) Chongqing orders dog cull following death from rabies

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

Christie Yang, our China Relations Manager, talked with Mr. Chen, the

Founder of Chongqing Small Animal Protection Association on Tuesday, who

was in Wanzhou and had recently met with the local government officials

there.

 

According to Mr. Chen, Wanzhou had three recent rabies cases - two last

year and one this. The local government advised that they took the

action based on the law of epidemic disease control of China. All of the

dogs in the area where the rabies cases occurred will be slaughtered,

regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not. Now the

government is also encouraging pet owners to kill their own dogs before

March 15, since they will commence the cull from March 16th. It has

been estimated that there are around 10,000 dogs within that area.

 

Mr. Chen said the local pet owners were so desperate that on Tuesday

night they held a gathering in a Plaza where the atmosphere had been

extremely tense. Fortunately Mr. Chen told Christie later that no

conflict had taken place and that the government had promised that they

would consider the pet owners position before the gathering dispersed..

 

In the meantime, we've written to the authorities in Chongqing

protesting this proposed slaughter of the dogs and to the British

Consulate there too. The letter is in Chinese which will soon be up on

our Chinese website.

 

It pretty much mirrors the previous letter we sent to the authorities in

Yunnan - in English here (and also in Chinese on our website):

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & menupos=10 & submenupos=5 & lg=en

 

The resurrection of these culls in China is particularly distressing

considering that President Hu Jintao had apparently ordered a ban on

such culls following the last wave just a few months ago. More here:

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & menupos=10 & submenupos=1 & item=1 & lg=\

en

 

 

Jill Robinson MBE

Founder & CEO

Animals Asia Foundation

 

ANIMALS ASIA HAS A BRAND NEW WEBSITE!

Find out more about the " China Bear Rescue " and " Friends.....or Food "

http://www.animalsasia.org

 

 

 

Dr John Wedderburn wrote:

>

> South China Morning Post

> Wednesday, March 7, 2007

> http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZWIEFAWYE.html

> <http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZWIEFAWYE.html>

> by JANE CAI

>

> Thousands of dogs will be culled in a Chongqing district following the

> death

> of a resident from rabies last month.

> The Wanzhou district government has issued a directive asking residents in

> the central city area to have their dogs put down before March 15.

> Exemptions are government department guard dogs, and those kept by

> research

> institutions, the military and for commercial purposes.

>

> The government will cull the dogs, whether they are vaccinated or not, if

> the residents do not do so before the deadline. Owners will be fined

> between

> 200 yuan and 1,000 yuan for every dog found after that date.

>

> It is the latest of a series of dog culls carried out by local governments

> in response to rabies fears. Authorities in Yunnan , Beijing and Guangdong

> killed tens of thousands of dogs last year despite strong opposition from

> international animal welfare organisations.

>

> The Wanzhou directive, published on the district government's website,

> outlines 16 communities and townships suspected of having rabid dogs,

> including Taibai Street where a resident died after being bitten by an

> unvaccinated dog last month.

>

> " All the dogs in the area should be killed. A compulsory cull phase will

> begin after March 16. The forced cull will be carried out by police, " the

> directive said.

>

> Ran Hua , an official with the district disease control and prevention

> centre said: " The move is aimed at protecting people's lives. Wanzhou has

> not had a reported human case of rabies for the nine years up until last

> year when three cases were reported. We must do something to prevent the

> situation from worsening. "

>

> Mr Ran said the cull and fine were in line with Chongqing's regulations.

> Residents have voiced strong opposition to the cull but Mr Ran said the

> killing was necessary to eliminate the threat.

>

> Song Yu , a Wanzhou resident who does not have a pet, said: " I understand

> the government's intention to protect people's lives, but the extreme

> decision to kill is hard for many of my friends. How can they kill the

> dogs

> they've been with for a long time with their own hands, especially when

> their pets have been vaccinated? "

>

> Beijing animal-welfare advocate Mang Ping said she was saddened by the

> decision.

>

> " If the government educated the public well enough, residents would

> have had

> a vaccine shot right after the bite. If the government had a system to

> ensure every pet was vaccinated, the bite would not have been a big

> problem, " she said.

>

> In Beijing, a " civilised dog keeping " campaign began last October and

> ended

> in December. Under the campaign, dogs taller than 35cm are prohibited from

> downtown city areas and no family is allowed to keep more than one pet

> dog.

> Fines were introduced for owners of dogs that soil the street or are

> unchained.

>

> The move infuriated dog owners and about 500 staged a protest against the

> seizure and culling of pets in the capital in November.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi again, Christie has just called the Wanzhou authorities and has now

been told that they will retract from their previous position and will

not slaughter owned and vaccinated dogs at all. They are asking all

owners in the 3 km area where the cull will begin to keep their dogs

inside the house and under control as from 16th March, after which time

all street and stray dogs not owned by anyone will be killed. They

refused to say how long this policy and action will last.

Obviously this is still not a satisfactory solution and it remains to be

seen how many dogs there are out there classed as strays. Jill

 

Jill Robinson wrote:

> Hi everyone,

>

> Christie Yang, our China Relations Manager, talked with Mr. Chen, the

> Founder of Chongqing Small Animal Protection Association on Tuesday,

> who was in Wanzhou and had recently met with the local government

> officials there.

>

> According to Mr. Chen, Wanzhou had three recent rabies cases - two

> last year and one this. The local government advised that they took

> the action based on the law of epidemic disease control of China. All

> of the dogs in the area where the rabies cases occurred will be

> slaughtered, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not.

> Now the government is also encouraging pet owners to kill their own

> dogs before March 15, since they will commence the cull from March

> 16th. It has been estimated that there are around 10,000 dogs within

> that area.

>

> Mr. Chen said the local pet owners were so desperate that on Tuesday

> night they held a gathering in a Plaza where the atmosphere had been

> extremely tense. Fortunately Mr. Chen told Christie later that no

> conflict had taken place and that the government had promised that

> they would consider the pet owners position before the gathering

> dispersed..

>

> In the meantime, we've written to the authorities in Chongqing

> protesting this proposed slaughter of the dogs and to the British

> Consulate there too. The letter is in Chinese which will soon be up

> on our Chinese website.

>

> It pretty much mirrors the previous letter we sent to the authorities

> in Yunnan - in English here (and also in Chinese on our website):

>

> http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & menupos=10 & submenupos=5 & lg=en

>

>

> The resurrection of these culls in China is particularly distressing

> considering that President Hu Jintao had apparently ordered a ban on

> such culls following the last wave just a few months ago. More here:

>

>

http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & menupos=10 & submenupos=1 & item=1 & lg=\

en

>

>

> Jill Robinson MBE

> Founder & CEO

> Animals Asia Foundation

>

> ANIMALS ASIA HAS A BRAND NEW WEBSITE!

> Find out more about the " China Bear Rescue " and " Friends.....or Food "

> http://www.animalsasia.org

>

>

>

> Dr John Wedderburn wrote:

>>

>> South China Morning Post

>> Wednesday, March 7, 2007

>> http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZWIEFAWYE.html

>> <http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZWIEFAWYE.html>

>> by JANE CAI

>>

>> Thousands of dogs will be culled in a Chongqing district following

>> the death

>> of a resident from rabies last month.

>> The Wanzhou district government has issued a directive asking

>> residents in

>> the central city area to have their dogs put down before March 15.

>> Exemptions are government department guard dogs, and those kept by

>> research

>> institutions, the military and for commercial purposes.

>>

>> The government will cull the dogs, whether they are vaccinated or

>> not, if

>> the residents do not do so before the deadline. Owners will be fined

>> between

>> 200 yuan and 1,000 yuan for every dog found after that date.

>>

>> It is the latest of a series of dog culls carried out by local

>> governments

>> in response to rabies fears. Authorities in Yunnan , Beijing and

>> Guangdong

>> killed tens of thousands of dogs last year despite strong opposition

>> from

>> international animal welfare organisations.

>>

>> The Wanzhou directive, published on the district government's website,

>> outlines 16 communities and townships suspected of having rabid dogs,

>> including Taibai Street where a resident died after being bitten by an

>> unvaccinated dog last month.

>>

>> " All the dogs in the area should be killed. A compulsory cull phase will

>> begin after March 16. The forced cull will be carried out by police, "

>> the

>> directive said.

>>

>> Ran Hua , an official with the district disease control and prevention

>> centre said: " The move is aimed at protecting people's lives. Wanzhou

>> has

>> not had a reported human case of rabies for the nine years up until last

>> year when three cases were reported. We must do something to prevent the

>> situation from worsening. "

>>

>> Mr Ran said the cull and fine were in line with Chongqing's regulations.

>> Residents have voiced strong opposition to the cull but Mr Ran said the

>> killing was necessary to eliminate the threat.

>>

>> Song Yu , a Wanzhou resident who does not have a pet, said: " I

>> understand

>> the government's intention to protect people's lives, but the extreme

>> decision to kill is hard for many of my friends. How can they kill

>> the dogs

>> they've been with for a long time with their own hands, especially when

>> their pets have been vaccinated? "

>>

>> Beijing animal-welfare advocate Mang Ping said she was saddened by the

>> decision.

>>

>> " If the government educated the public well enough, residents would

>> have had

>> a vaccine shot right after the bite. If the government had a system to

>> ensure every pet was vaccinated, the bite would not have been a big

>> problem, " she said.

>>

>> In Beijing, a " civilised dog keeping " campaign began last October and

>> ended

>> in December. Under the campaign, dogs taller than 35cm are prohibited

>> from

>> downtown city areas and no family is allowed to keep more than one

>> pet dog.

>> Fines were introduced for owners of dogs that soil the street or are

>> unchained.

>>

>> The move infuriated dog owners and about 500 staged a protest against

>> the

>> seizure and culling of pets in the capital in November.

>>

>>

>

[Guest guest]

>Hi again, Christie has just called the Wanzhou authorities and has now

>been told that they will retract from their previous position and will

>not slaughter owned and vaccinated dogs at all.

 

 

Of note in cases like this is that China continues to have an

enormous problem with people who manufacture & sell either fake

vaccines, or vaccines that actually spread the diseases they are

supposed to prevent, because of faulty manufacturing technique.

 

This is a much bigger problem with agricultural vaccines than

with rabies vaccines, but in 2005 two boys died of rabies in

Guangdong after having supposedly been given post-exposure

vaccination.

 

On investigation, the police discovered 40,000 boxes of fake

rabies vaccine.

 

This sort of thing appears to account for the common belief

in China that rabies vaccines are only 80% effective. If 20% of the

vaccines in distribution are bad, that would explain the problem.

 

A compounding factor in any nation with erratic electrical

supplies and a warm climate is that even good rabies vaccines must be

kept refrigerated. India has had a hell of a time over the years

with rabies vaccines becoming ineffective because of refrigeration

failures, especially in rural areas, and China has probably fared

no better.

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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