(CN) Barbaric torture of dogs at the Maoshan Animal Market, in Guangzhou, China.

[Guest guest]

Shameful neglect and barbaric torture of dogs at the Maoshan Animal

Market in Guangzhou, southern China.

 

This story is also available at the following blog. Click on the link

below:

http://frankmal.wordpress.com/2006/07/05/serving-up-pet-dog-food-can-you\

-help/

<http://frankmal.wordpress.com/2006/07/05/serving-up-pet-dog-food-can-yo\

u-help/>

 

 

The article first appeared in the Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia, on

Saturday, June 10, 2006. Little has changed. Please support this

worthy cause. Thank you...

 

" These dogs await their horrifying end at a Chinese market. Please

lobby to end the dog meat and fur trade in China. Take action by

contacting and supporting the WSPA: World Society for the Protection of

Animals <http://www.wspa-international.org/> , Animals Asia Foundation (

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & %20lg=en> AFF)

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & %20lg=en> , The Humane

Society of the United States <http://www.hsus.org/> , The Humane Society

International

<http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi/index.htm\

l> , and local concerned animal protection and welfare groups and

citizens within your own local area.

 

[image]

 

Terror: dogs stuffed into a cage (upper) and a St Bernard (lower) await

their horrifying end at a Guangzhou market. It's a practice Prof

Song Wei (lower left) hopes will end soon.

 

 

 

Serving up pet food (but it's not for the dogs)Saturday 10th of

June, 2006.

 

It's the Year of the Dog, but that won't save millions of

canines from being served for dinner, as Angela Leary writes-Maoshan

Animal Market, Guangzhou, southern China.

 

 

The dogs at Maoshan Animal Market huddle as one at the back of their

enclosures. In one filthy cage, more than 100 crush together in

wretchedness. It's a humid spring morning, not cold, but many are

shivering. It's a different kind of warmth they are seeking. One by

one, these trembling animals will be dragged out and slowly bludgeoned

to death, while their terrified pack mates look on, cowering and

whimpering, wondering which one will be next.

 

The market, on the outskirts of China's bustling southern city of

Guangzhou, supplies the surrounding restaurants with dog meat, a

specialty dish favoured by well off provincials.

 

The locals believe the meat will taste better if, at the moment of

death, the dogs are panic- stricken, electric with adrenalin.

 

So their death comes slowly. First a heavy blow to the snout with a

rough-hewn truncheon resembling a baseball bat, then the dogs are left

to absorb their pain for a minute or so, their cries curdling the blood

of the other dogs in line.

Often they stagger up to their tormentors, tails feebly wagging, in the

hope of a reprieve. But there's no mercy here. The beating continues

at a torturous pace until the dogs, in and out of consciousness, finally

succumb to the blows.

 

Such is a dog's life as the people celebrate the Year of the Dog.

 

[image]

 

Animals Asia Foundation

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=1 & %20menupos=1 & lg=en> ,

based in Hong Kong, is determined to make use of this auspicious year in

the Chinese zodiac to push for a ban on dog meat.

 

Founder and CEO Jill Robinson says millions of dogs are brutally

slaughtered in China each year. Most are deliberately tortured.

 

Other killing methods include electrocution and hanging. Some are boiled

alive. " It's absolutely heartbreaking, " Robinson says.

 

[image]

 

" Before they arrive at the markets, these dogs often spend three or

four days on the back of trucks, crammed together in tiny cages. They

get nothing to eat and they don't even have access to water. If

they're lucky, they will be hosed down just to keep them alive.

"

 

Robinson denies accusations of cultural imperialism from Westerners who

say that for the Chinese, consumption of dog and cat meat is the same as

eating lamb or beef.

 

" There is a very big difference. Herd animals have evolved to adapt

better to live in groups, and farm animals in general have been

genetically selected to adapt better to captivity and farming

practices, " she says.

 

" We certainly don't want to imply that livestock animals

don't suffer - they do - but dogs are carnivores and pack animals.

Hierarchy is important. In markets, crammed into cages, the competition

for food,females in season and the stress of seeing other dogs

slaughtered leads to aggression and fighting. "

 

Disease is also rife among market dogs, Robinson says.

 

Sadly this is just one of the injustices for dogs in China.

 

Pedigrees are routinely tossed out of middle-class homes as new breeds

become fashionable.

 

Starving strays are common on the streets and authorities have no

interest in humane euthanasia.

 

Culling days are routine in southern provinces when bands of municipal

workers take to the streets to bludgeon dogs - strays and pets - to

death, sometimes in full view of their horrified owners.

 

Robinson, a Briton, who has been awarded an MBE for her work in animal

welfare is seeping into the Chinese psyche.

 

" I feel the momentum for change is building and the great thing is

that it's coming from within China, " she says.

 

AAF <http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=1 & %20menupos=1 & lg=en>

has launched a China-wide campaign called " Friends or Food?

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=3 & %20lg=en> " to tackle

the problems of cruelty and neglect and specifically to end dog and cat

eating.

 

Robinson has reason to be optimistic. Her group recently hosted the

first China Companion Animal Symposium in Guangzhou and 32 animal

welfare groups, representing about 250,000 people from around

China,voted unanimously to push for a ban on the consumption of dog and

cat meat.

 

" Imagine this forum happening 10 or five years ago. It simply would

not have been possible, " she says.

 

The most obvious hurdle facing animal activists is the dearth of legal

protection for companion animals in China. There is none.

 

Prof Song Wei, a lecturer in law at the University of Science and

Technology in Hefei, Anhui province, says the country's legal

structure is so complex and vast that the most effective way to tackle

the problem is to amend existing legislation at the local level.

 

Such laws focus on controlling animals and limiting numbers, but ignore

welfare.

 

" Along with legislation we need to see a shift in attitudes and a

change in our culture, " Prof Wei says.

" We must combine a loving heart with the law.

" There has been much progress even in the past five years. Abuse

casestoday always spark huge public outrage. There is much more

awareness of animal welfare. "

 

A new generation of Chinese are leading the charge, says young and

urbane Li Yunjun.

 

Li started Private Pet Home in Panyu, just south of Guangzhou three

years ago.

His organization rescues strays, but focuses on education.

 

" My parents eat dog and cat meat even though they know about the

cruelty, " Li says.

" They do not accept what I do. They don't understand why I

should care about animals. "

 

But Li says very few young, urban people would eat dog and cat meat now,

as " they see it as ugly and unacceptable " .

 

The practice is more common in the countryside, where men boast about

the amount of dog meat they can consume in one sitting.

 

Li says he is optimistic the practice will eventually die out, but it

will have to be driven by a change in attitudes, not just laws.

" Corruption is still a huge problem, " he says.

" Laws would help, but those that want to keep the industry going

just need to pay money. "

 

Guangzhou native Christie Yang Min says that the change, while slow, is

unstoppable.

Yang, who co-ordinates AAF's China PR efforts, says the internet is

a major factor in spreading the word and allowing animal welfare groups

to offer mutual support.

" Co-operation is really important for any group working in a country

as big as China, " she says.

 

Even in cosmopolitan Hong Kong, ignorance is widespread.

" At first I was shocked, " says Briton, Anneleise Smillie,

AAF's education director.

 

" Many children genuinely believe dogs have no feelings, that they

are incapable of feeling emotions or even physical pain. "

 

She describes a recent exchange with children at a middle-range school.

" Can Mao Mao feel sad? "

" Noooooo! "

" Can Mao Mao feel happy? "

" Noooooo! " the children chant again, giggling at the absurdity

of the notion.

 

 

 

Mao Mao is a golden retriever on one of his first outings with

" Professor Paws " , a programme run by AAF

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=1 & menupos=1 & lg=en> to

encourage in Chinese children a lifelong respect for dogs — and to

rid them of their crippling fear and misunderstanding.

 

Under a program run by AAF, native English-speaking volunteers take

their dogs into schools to give children the chance to chat in English

and to pat the dogs.

 

Often it is the first time they will have touched a dog.

 

AAF <http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?module=1 & %20menupos=1 & lg=en>

executive director Annie Mather says it is often ignorance rather than

deliberate cruelty that leads to the mistreatment of dogs.

" Many Hong Kong people take their dogs for walks by carrying

thembecause they don't want them to get their feet dirty and make a

mess in their flats, " Mather says.

 

" They don't realise that dogs need exercise. "

 

" One woman in Mainland China, who adored her little dog, washed it

every day in dish washing liquid. She really thought she was doing the

right thing and couldn't understand why it was losing its fur. "

 

 

 

It is in mainland China that the biggest challenges remain. Wu Jun of

the Zhuhai Animal Protection Association in Guangdong province, says it

is time he shared a shameful secret to illustrate the extent of

ignorance that he and others fighting to end cruelty are facing.

 

 

 

" My wife and I once went to a restaurant and saw meat being sliced

off the animals while they were still alive, " Wu says, struggling to

continue. " I have not been able to tell this to a foreigner before.

Dogs and cats can't speak, but we can. So we must speak out even

louder. "

 

 

_

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HSUS <http://www.hsus.org/> >> About Us <http://www.hsus.org/about_us/>

>> Humane Society International (HSI)

<http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi/> >>

Animal Cruelty Issues from Around the World

<http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane_society_international_hsi/cruelty_i\

ssues_around_the_world/>

 

Dying for Fur: Recent Investigation Shows Cruelty at Chinese Fur Farms

 

 

 

[China's Fur Farms]

 

 

 

China's Fur Farms

Imagine buying a child's toy or a piece of furniture, never

realizing you are actually buying a product containing fur from a

Chinese fur farm—fur that was once a terrified Arctic fox, held in a

wire cage, abused, and eventually skinned alive.

Eighty-five percent of the world's fur comes from fur farms. China

has become the world's largest exporter of fur, largely due to the

country's absence of animal welfare protection and surplus of cheap

labor.

 

Demand for fur from China, mostly from Europe and the United States,has

grown in the last ten years—the result of heavy investment in

marketing campaigns by a global fur industry aiming to make fur more

socially acceptable. The fur industry has also developed a wider range

for fur products in international commercial markets—products with

smaller price tags and less obvious connections to the furry faces that

have caused them so much trouble over the years.

 

The Investigation: What They Witnessed

The rapid growth in fur farming and lack of animal welfare regulation in

China prompted Care for the Wild <http://www.careforthewild.com/> , EAST

International <http://www.east.org.tw/> and the Swiss Animal Protection

(SAP) <http://www.animal-protection.net/furtrade/chinafur.html> to

collaborate on an investigation throughout 2004 and January of 2005. The

investigation, Fun Fur? A Report on the Chinese Fur Industry, exposes

the horrors inflicted on animals at Chinese fur farms. Investigators for

the Fun Fur? report obtained photos and video at fur farms throughout

the Hebei province of Eastern China. Visited farms each held between 50

and 6,000 frightened and abused animals.Investigators documented Red

foxes, Arctic foxes, raccoon dogs, minks, and rex rabbits manifesting

pathological behaviors, high cub mortality rates and

infanticide—symptoms of a lifetime of abuse. They tracked the

animals as they were transported for sale under brutal conditions, and

were skinned, often alive, adjacent to the wholesale markets where pelts

are sold between the months of November and March.

 

China's lack of animal welfare standards allows millions of animals

to live out their entire lives cramped in rows of tiny wire cages. These

caged animals pace, nod, and circle their heads repeatedly in signs of

extreme anxiety. Others, overwhelmed by the conditions, develop learned

helplessness, huddling in their cages and demonstrating no signs of

interest in the activity around them.

 

Before sale at markets, animals are removed from cages with metal tongs

around their necks and carried by their hind legs for skinning and

slaughter. Instead of killing the animals humanely, workers often stun

them with repeated blows to the head using wooden clubs, or by swinging

them by the hind legs and beating their heads on the ground.

 

Investigators witnessed a significant number of animals that were still

alive when the skinning process began—starting with a knife at the

rear of the belly and ending with the fur being pulled over the

animal's head. After the skin was removed, investigators taped

animals being thrown on a pile of other carcasses. These animals were

still breathing, had a heartbeat, and continued moving and blinking for

between five to ten minutes after their skin had been ripped from their

bodies.

 

The success of fur industry campaigns and new manufacturing methods to

make fur socially acceptable encourages the continued cruelty at Chinese

fur farms and around the world. Fun Fur? reports that; " Many

shoppers, who might flinch at buying a full-length fur coat, might still

be seduced by a coat with a fur collar, a parka with fur trim around the

hood, a scarf, or wrap, or a handbag with fur detail. & The animal

connection may be less apparent with fur that has been shaved, knitted

or dyed, or combined with other materials. "

Shop Smarter

Some consumers may never suspect that they are buying fur. Items as

inconspicuous as children's toys and furniture made with fur are

turning up in stores. And these products are not always labeled. Each of

these items—the trim on a coat, the lining of a glove or a

child's toy—represents thecruelty in the life and death of an

animal farmed for its fur

<http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/humane_society_magazines_and\

_newsletters/all_animals/volume_3_issue_4_winter_2002/a_little_bit_of_fu\

r_is_big_business.html> .

 

Become an educated, active consumer and help end the suffering of

animals on Chinese fur farms. Avoid any product with fur trim.

Manufacturing techniques like dying often fool shoppers into thinking

they are buying fake fur. Ask store managers if they know how their fur

products are labeled and where the fur comes from. You can make them

aware of the cruelty on Chinese fur farms and the blood trail behind the

products they sell.

Take Action

Appeal to the source—let the Chinese government know that allowing

the continued suffering of animals for fur is unacceptable in light of

China's international standing.

Write To:

 

Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong

2300 Connecticut Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20008

 

Minister Bo Xilai

No.2 Dong Chang'an Avenue

Beijing, China 100731

 

Write a letter to both the Chinese Minister of Commerce and the Chinese

Ambassador to the United States. Express your concerns and urge them to

recognize that the inhumane treatment of animals on Chinese fur farms

shows a lack of understanding of acceptable animal husbandry techniques.

As the largest exporter of fur, and the biggest fur trade production and

processing country in the world, China has the opportunity to make an

enormous, positive impact on the lives of millions of animals.

 

WARNING - Disturbing Images In January 2005, Care for the Wild

<http://www.careforthewild.com/> , EAST International

<http://www.east.org.tw/> and the Swiss Animal Protection

<http://www.animal-protection.net/furtrade/chinafur.html> released

their wrenching findings from Fun Fur? A Report on the Chinese Fur

Industry. The report

<http://www.animal-protection.net/furtrade/report_fur_china.pdf> and

video <http://www.animal-protection.net/furtrade/chinafur.html>

investigators released show extremely graphic images that some people

may find distressing.

 

_______________

 

 

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