Japan's unwanted dogs face almost certain death

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62S0KL20100329?type=lifestyleMolt

 

Mon, Mar 29 2010

 

Japan's unwanted dogs face almost certain death

 

TOKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters Life!) - It's a dog's life for a stray mutt in any

country, but in Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more

likely to be put down than to find a new home.

 

Lifestyle | Japan

 

While in some other industrialized countries the idea of " saving " a pet from a

shelter is well-established, in Japan animal welfare activists say strays often

fall foul of an attitude that prizes puppies and pedigrees as status symbols.

 

" In Britain, the public go to animal welfare shelters to adopt an animal and

save a life. The mindset in Japan is still 'if you want a pet, go to a pet

shop', " said Briar Simpson, a New Zealander who works for Japan's animal shelter

ARK, via e-mail.

 

In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death

every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the

nation's largest dog welfare charity.

 

In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare

organization ALIVE says.

 

In rural areas such as Tokushima Prefecture, on the southwestern island of

Shikoku, the situation is even worse. In 2008 alone, more than 88 percent of

abandoned dogs at the Tokushima Animal Welfare Center were put down.

 

Most strays have been abandoned by their owners, while others are the offspring

of abandoned dogs that have gone wild. Some hunting dogs are dumped in the

off-season rather than kept for the following year's season, activists say.

 

But whatever their former lives, once at the center the dogs are kept for a

maximum of only seven days.

 

CHANGING ATTITUDES

 

Kensuke Kuramoto, a dog trainer exercising his Dobermann in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park,

said too many people treat dogs like toys and trinkets.

 

" First of all, too many people are raising dogs in Japan, and people tend to

view their lives too lightly, " he said.

 

" As there are people who treat dogs as part of their family, there are also

those who buy them for simple reasons like celebrating a daughters birthday. "

 

Attitudes are changing slowly due to media coverage in recent years, especially

in the cities where the pet boom is at its height. More people are adopting

strays.

 

" I have these two dogs because someone threw them away, but as dogs are living

creatures, it's similar to murder if you throw them away, " said Mika Takahashi,

a 21-year-old resident of Tokyo as she walked her two pets -- one a pedigree

Italian greyhound and the other dark-grey husky mongrel.

 

However, taking in an abandoned dog is still not very common in Japan despite

the burgeoning dog population. At more than 6.8 million in 2008, there are

already more canines in the nation than children under the age of six.

 

And more than 118,000 dogs a year Japan still end up in the dog pound, according

to the latest 2008 statistics. Out of these only a handful will be found new

homes.

 

At the Tokushima Animal Welfare Center alone, more than 2,700 dogs were put to

death in the year to March 2009.

 

When the center was built, officials promised locals they would not kill any

dogs on site, so they are asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas in metal

containers euphemistically called " dream boxes " aboard a truck between the

center and the local crematorium.

 

However painless the operation is, the process is still emotionally painful for

those that have to see it daily.

 

" Whenever I press the button to inject the gas, I feel totally powerless, " said

the centre's chief veterinarian, Akinori Kume, his eyes filled with tears.

 

(Editing by Alex Richardson)