Olympian efforts for animals in China

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2008:

 

 

Olympian efforts for animals in China

 

BEIJING--Four months before the 2008 Olympic Games in

Beijing, China has yet to introduce a long hoped for and officially

hinted at national humane law--but a newly decreed ban on poultry

slaughter in traditional live markets strikes at the economic

viability of live markets themselves.

" Despite protests by poultry vendors who fear that the ban

will affect their livelihood, the policy will go into effect on

April 1, 2008 and all chicken, geese and ducks should then be

slaughtered at licensed abattoirs, " warned Chinese National Science

Council chair Chen Chien-jen.

Chen Chien-jen also heads the Chinese cabinet task force on

prevention of the H5N1 avian flu, which has killed 19 of the 29

Chinese known to have become infected.

Five H5N1 outbreaks hit poultry in China during the first

quarter of 2008. The most recent Chinese human fatality was a

44-year-old woman from Haifeng County in Guangdong who died on

February 28.

The Chinese live market poultry slaughter ban applies to more than

90% of the animals sold at traditional live markets, and appears to

be stronger than the legislation governing live markets in most U.S.

states-- indeed, in most of the world.

Sellers at U.S. traditional live markets from New York City

to San Francisco continue to sell and slaughter poultry and other

animals with little if any inspection or regulation--a concern of

public health officials, as well as of animal advocates, but

efforts to introduce regulation to U.S. live markets have proved

politically perilous.

Regarded decades ago as artifacts of the past that would soon

fade out, U.S. traditional live markets were exempted from most of

the rules that apply to commercial slaughterhouses, in deference to

the traditions of a variety of ethnic communities.

In recent years, responding to increased consumer demand for

non-factory farmed meat, as well as immigration from parts of the

world where live markets are common, the older live markets of many

U.S. cities have expanded, and countless new live markets have

opened.

The new Chinese law incorporates a lengthy adjustment period,

Chen Chien-jen said. This could become a loophole for

non-enforcement, or may simply be a safeguard, as Chen Chien-jen

declared it is, to ensure that all poultry sellers have access to

slaughterhouses meeting the new standards, and understand what the

standards are.

Enforcement of the live market slaughter ban was originally

to begin on October 1, well after the Olympics, when outside

observation of China will be less intense. The enforcement deadline

is now to come " between three and six months later, " Chen Chien-jen

announced.

The prohibition of poultry slaughter at live markets was at

least the fourth measure introduced in China since November 2007 to

curtail branches of animal commerce that have long been activist

targets. Each measure has extended existing legislation meant to

protect public health and the environment.

 

Wildlife & cat traffic

 

The first was a ban on selling snakes and snake meat for

human consumption announced by Guangzhou bureau of forestry director

Guo Qinghe, days before the 2nd China Companion Animal Symposium,

held in Guangdong. Based on a law introduced in January 2004 to

control the spread of Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome by halting

the sale of non-captive-raised wildlife, the ban inhibited eating

cats as well as snakes, by prohibiting the traditional Guangdong

dish " dragon fighting tiger " --as the state newspaper China Daily

pointed out.

Whether the ban is enforced is unclear, as cats continue to

be sold in the live markets of Guangdong, the only region where

cat-eating is common, and as cats are consumed in other dishes. No

quantification of the cat traffic now, as opposed to six months ago

and longer, has been made available.

Fiona Tam of the South China Morning Post reported on

February 26 that the 2004 legislation appears to be partially

effective in achieving its original goals, but is still not fully

enforced.

" Long blamed as a key source of the SARS virus, civets and

other wild game are still on the menu for many Cantonese, " Tam

found. " But while they are still available, diners now have to

scout for the animals on the black market, " except in Guangzhou,

where " 37 major wildlife trading hubs " offer " various species of

fowl, as well as deer, boar, rabbits, fox, pangolin and civets. "

Recalled Tam, " When Guangdong imposed the ban [on wildlife

sales for human consumption], it offered a reward for

whistleblowers, and authorities oversaw the killing of at least

7,200 captive civet cats that year, " who were confiscated from

vendors.

Now, Tam wrote, " To avoid the crackdown, animal dealers

and restaurant owners keep civet cats and other wild game in nearby

ramshackle rooms, and diners, who used to select their animal or

bird outside the restaurant, must phone in an order. "

Guangdong banned raising civets, " but the ban stops at the

provincial border, " Tam continued. " Insiders say that more than 70%

of the civet cats available in Guangdong are farmed in neighboring

provinces, making it difficult for Guangdong to enforce its ban.

Last year, " Tam reported, " the Guangdong forestry bureau seized

more than 20,000 wild animals from vendors, but the bans and fines

haven't deterred civet breeders and dealers. "

However, " More and more young and well-educated people

refuse to eat wild game now, " Shenzhen cat protection activist

Isobel Zhang told Tam, and government discouragement of wildlife

trafficking intensified in early 2008.

First, selling song thrushes and six other bird species

often kept as cage birds was banned throughout China, effective on

January 1, 2008.

Six weeks later the State Forestry Administration introduced a

nationwide crackdown against online wildlife trafficking. Endangered

Species Import and Export Management Office deputy director Meng

Xianlin told the official Xinhua news agency that staff of the

International Fund for Animal Welfare had discovered 1,973 incidents

of wild animal and product trade online in the preceding three

months, including offers to buy or sell more than 30 animals listed

by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

" The items included wild tiger bone wine, tiger whiskers,

rhino horns, and live slow lorises, a furry primate mostly found in

southeast Asia, " Xinhua News said.

" Acting upon the reports, the Endangered Species Import and

Export Management Office cooperated with public security and forestry

departments in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, where most of the

trade information was uncovered, " Xinhua News continued. " More than

80% of the information was deleted [from web sites]. Several

websites were closed. "

An IFAW media release said further investigations were continuing.

 

Dog meat ban rumor

 

A possible fifth Chinese action against a cruel form of

animal trafficking was described by an anonymous undercover reporter

for Sky News, of Britain, on March 11, 2008--but was apparently not

mentioned by Chinese state media.

" Restaurants serving dog meat in Beijing have been ordered to close

for fear of upsetting western tourists arriving for this year's

Olympic Games, " Sky News claimed. " But British activists say the

dog-meat ban is a cynical, cosmetic move while appalling animal

cruelty continues throughout China.

" Investigation agency Ecostorm gained access to China's

dog-meat industry and secured pictures of dogs being brutally killed

with clubs and knives, " Sky News continued. " The images show the

animals taking up to seven minutes to die before they are boiled and

skinned to be eaten.

" Posing as British businessmen, investigators spent several weeks

visiting dog restaurants and processing factories outside Beijing, "

Sky News said. " Travel a few hours west out of Beijing, to the city

of Datong, and you'll find what China doesn't want them to see. On

display outside dog-restaurants, the video shows dozens of dogs

cramped into wire cages, waiting to be killed and eaten. "

Datong, a longtime regional railway hub known for ancient

Buddhist temples and statues, is actually about eight hours by train

or car northwest of Beijing, and is much farther north and west than

any other Chinese cities with documented dog meat industries.

Raising dogs for human consumption does not appear to have

been noted by visitors to Datong until the " Saint Bernard Dog Meat

Breeding Center " opened there in 1998, coinciding with significant

expansion of the tourist trade.

Rabies control

A dog-related decree that did get national attention from

China Daily was a reinforced national rabies vaccination requirement,

jointly issued on January 18, 2008 by the ministries of health and

agriculture.

Yunnan province epidemiologist Ding Zhengrong told China Daily that

the national vaccination rate going into 2008 was only10%, well

below the minimum 70% vaccination rate that is necessary to prevent

rabies outbreaks from spreading.

Beijing, where dogs are popular pets, charges the equivalent of

$140 U.S. to register a dog for the first time, and $70 per year to

renew the registration. Rabies vaccination is included in the price.

More than 300 locations around Beijing sell registrations and provide

vaccinations.

In Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong and hub of the dog

meat industry, the cost of registering a pet dog is $1,400 for the

first year, China Daily said, and $840 each year thereafter.

So-called " meat dogs, " however, are neither registered nor

vaccinated--and Guangdong leads China in both canine and human rabies

cases.

" Compulsory canine vaccination could become one of the first

positive outcomes of the 2008 Olympiad, " observed Craig R. Pringle,

ProMED viral diseases moderator for the International Society for

Infectious Diseases.

" Human rabies is an escalating problem in China which

requires a drastic response, " Pringle editorialized. " The numbers

of [human] rabies deaths in China are given by the Ministry of Health

as 2,651 in 2004, 2,537 in 2005, 3,279 in 2006, and 3,380 in 2007.

Compulsory vaccination of canines kept as companion animals

is a laudable aim, " Pringle continued, " possibly achievable in

Beijing. But the considerable expense of vaccination for pet owners

and lack of uniformity of regulations in other cities may be barriers

to achieving control of rabies outside the capital. Canine rabies

control in rural areas remains an unsolved problem, and may require

implementation of a state-supported free vaccination campaign. "

 

Pro-animal networking

 

There are now about 15 times more dogs kept as pets in China

than are eaten, and 300 times as many cats as are eaten, but

halting the dog and cat meat trade would eliminate reservoirs of

unvaccinated animals in the areas of greatest risk.

Public demonstrations against eating dogs, cats, and birds

have repeatedly attracted favorable Chinese media notice since

January 12, 2008, when 10 Northeast Normal University students

wearing animal masks spent half an hour on their knees in subfreezing

weather, begging for clemency for the animals at a live market in

Changchun, Jilin province.

" The slaying stopped, " reported China Daily. Other reports

did not mention any outcome. A leafleting demonstration by

sympathizers followed in Beijing.

The Changchun and Beijing activists were participants in the

Chinese Animal Protection Network, self-described as " the first

Chinese network for animal protection, " consisting of " pioneer

projects that target different animal issues such as animal ethics,

welfare of companion animals, and vegetarianism. "

Founded in 2004, the Chinese Animal Protection Network now

claims " 40 member groups, two branches, and over 10,000 individual

supporters, " with an active web site at <www.ccapn.ngo.cn>.

In February 2007, the network initiated an online petition

against dog and cat eating that within one year had collected more

than 40,000 signatures, and had generated more than 100,000 mentions

on web pages.

While the Chinese government has aggressively repressed

political organization in other causes, there has so far been little

hint of opposition to animal advocacy, and have been many signs of

official encouragement of animal advocates, especially in the form

of increasingly prominent and favorable coverage by state media.

This was overlooked or disregarded in reports by The Times of

London on February 25, 2008 and The Daily Mail, also of London, on

March 8, 2008, both of which alleged that as Times Beijing

correspondent Jane Macartney put it, " Animal welfare activists in

Beijing are up in arms over a decision by the city government to

clear the capital of its stray cats as part of a sweeping Olympic

facelift. "

" Qin Xiaona, head of the Capital Animal Welfare Assocation,

says 160,000 to 200,000 animals at the very minimum are at risk, "

wrote Macartney. " Strays are already being caught and transported to

a holding pen in the suburban county of Changping. Animal welfare

activists described seeing the cats crowded together in cages the

size of a microwave oven.

" They estimated almost 90% of the animals were diseased, and

many had been neutered with rudimentary surgery that led to

infections. The order states that strays still unclaimed after 14

days will be 'dealt with,' " Macartney said, based on Qin Xiaona's

statements, leaving unexplained why doomed animals are neutered.

Simon Perry of the Daily Mail reported similar details,

adding that " The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign

warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help

clear the streets of them. Cat owners, terrified by the warning,

are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up by special

collection teams. "

 

The view from Beijing

 

" The real situation is only worse, " claimed China Small

Animal Protection Society international liaison Luguan Yan. " The Da

Niu Fang compound in Haidian District is very close to our shelter,

and even we do not have any access to the cats inside. We are trying

to lobby the government against culling cats, but since we are

terribly understaffed, we are not sure how much impact our efforts

may have. "

But others found a different picture.

" As soon as ACTAsia heard the news, our colleagues in China

immediately started looking for evidence, " wrote Pei F. Su of

ACTAsia for Animals. Pei Su, a British resident, is fluent in

Mandarin.

" We also contacted members of several key Beijing animal

groups, " Pei Su said. " We found no evidence that Beijing has

started organized operations to remove stray cats from streets or

other public areas.

" In June 2007, the municipality started to establish cat

pounds, " parallel to the existing dog pounds. " Telephone numbers

were introduced for the public to report stray animals and to find

out how to hand over unwanted pets. So far, we have confirmed that

two pounds have been set up specifically for cats, one permanent and

one temporary, from which cats are transferred to the permanent

facility, " Pei Su continued.

" In November 2007 the municipality started to publicize these

facilities to encourage the public to send unwanted and stray cats

to these pounds. The municipality is planning to build more

temporary animal pounds in different districts.

" When animal groups visited the pounds, " Pei Su

acknowledged, " they observed that the cats were kept in appalling

welfare conditions. Many cats were ill, and had not received

treatment. The cages were small, and were placed in vertical

stacks. In December 2007 the animal group Lucky Cats rescued more

than 60 cats from these pounds. "

In January 2008, Pei Su wrote, " several key cat rescuers,

together with Lucky Cats, met with the vice director of the Animal

Health Inspection Center and suggested that the municipality increase

the size of the cages, isolate sick cats, give them appropriate

treatment, and not remove neutered and monitored animals from the

streets, " in neighborhoods where Lucky Cats and others conduct

neuter/return programs.

The delegation also asked the city to " Acknowledge the

rescue methods and experience of the animal groups, and allow

volunteers to visit and help at the cat pounds, " as was introduced

at Beijing's main dog pound in 2003.

In addition, Pei Su said, the delegation asked the city to " Explain

to the public the real purpose of animal pounds, and what happens to

unwanted animals in the pounds, so that people do not have any

unrealistic perceptions about the fate of these animals, " including

disclosing how unclaimed animals are killed at the end of the 14-day

holding period.

" The Centre agreed to inform Lucky Cats when it received

neutered cats, " Pei Su recounted. " However, cat rescuers are no

longer allowed to take other cats from the pounds.

" People are allowed to adopt cats from the pounds if they do

not already have cats at home, " Pei Su said.

" To date, " Pei Su assessed, " the majority of the cats in

the pounds appeared to have been handed over by their owners, with a

small percentage of cats caught from the street. The abandonments

appear to be at least partly due to a long-running government

campaign about the disadvantages and dangers of keeping a cat, in

which a false picture is painted of the wonderful life a cat will

have in a pound. Animal groups in Beijing are trying to counteract

this by educating the public about the conditions in the pounds and

the death that awaits abandoned cats. They also provide information

about the benefits of keeping cats, and how to care responsibly for

a cat.

" In conclusion, " Pei Su e-mailed, " we are relieved that no

organized operation has been started to actively catch stray cats in

Beijing at this stage, but we have heard from reliable sources that

the municipality is actively seeking training on how to catch stray

cats. This could be an indication that there may be government

action on this front before too long. Therefore, it is very

important to urge Beijing Municipality to understand that catching

and killing will not resolve stray animal problems, and that it is

important to take a comprehensive approach. ACTAsia will continue to

monitor the situation, " Pei Su pledged.

The Animals Asia Foundation issued similar findings, and

joined the Capital Welfare Association in offering material support

for expanded neuter/return efforts.

" We recently funded a similar program in Guangzhou, " Animals

Asia Foundation founder Jill Robinson said, " and are setting the

standard for vet care in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and soon Chengdu with

team outreach programs, which are providing training at veterinary

clinics in basic spay/neuter and animal care. "

Recalled Sharon St. Joan of the Best Friends Network, " In

2006, there was massive killing of dogs in China. In October 2006

a demonstration in front of the Beijing Zoo by dog owners and several

Chinese animal welfare groups helped bring an end to the killing.

There are reports now circulating on the Internet about the

large-scale killing of cats in Beijing, " St. Joan acknowledged.

" However, unlike the situation in 2006, there is no clear

confirmation from inside China that this is happening. Animal Rescue

Beijing manager Irene Zheng, " who interned at the Best Friends

Animal Sanctuary in 2005, " has written that ARB founder Wu Tianyu

talked with the managers of the parks in Beijing, and was told that

they are no longer seeing cats being trapped by the authorities. "

Olympic boycott threats

Inevitably, the British newspaper reports fueled activist

calls for boycotts of the Olympics, and of Chinese products and

tourism generally.

" Boycotts are not always an effective tactic, " reminded St. Joan.

" They may be unjust and inappropriate. Boycotting a popular event

such as the Olympics may not advance the cause of animals or animal

groups in any way--and could work against the animal groups and the

animals. Well over thirty very active, dedicated, and highly

effective animal welfare groups are working hard in China,

courageously fighting for the well-being of animals. Helping them in

their work and giving them support is the very best way to advance

the cause of animals in China! "

Agreed Robinson, " There is an enormous movement within

China, not only working quietly behind the scenes with the central

government and local authorities, but also working vocally and

increasingly more effectively as the gradual shift of the past couple

of years gains momentum.

" Any aggressive pressure surrounding the Olympics from within

will quickly see a backlash from millions across the country who are

fiercely proud of this event, and would be appalled by any negative

leverage which tries to end or damage something which they have

supported for years. "

" International protests would likely backfire too, " Robinson

continued. " Worldwide criticism of dog eating during the World Cup

[soccer tournament] in Korea brought a backlash from students who

objected to being told what to do in their own country--and

slaughtered and ate yet more dogs in protest against 'interfering

imperialists.' "

" We do not endorse using this issue to oppose the Olympics, "

agreed Luguan Yan. --Merritt Clifton

 

 

 

 

--

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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