Date
August 2, 2006
Contact
Elliot M. Katz
(415) 388-9641, ext. 225
Kristie Phelps
(757) 423-0093
In Defense of Animals
3010 Kerner Blvd
San Rafael
CA 94901
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
IDA Pleads to Chinese Ambassador to Stop Brutal Dog Culls
International Animal Protection Organization Calls for Travel Boycott After China Viciously Massacres 54,000 Dogs in Rabies Scare
San Rafael, Calif.—International animal rights organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) rushed an urgent appeal to the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S., Zhou Wenzhong, urging him to do everything in his power to ensure an end to the cruel dog culls in the country. The appeal comes in the wake of news reports that officials in Mouding, a southeastern county in China, brutally massacred more than 54,000 dogs over a five day period last week in an attempt to stem the spread of rabies to humans.
The killings were carried out in almost unimaginably horrific ways. Public Security Bureau task force officers stopped guardians who were walking their dogs in cities and beat the animals to death with clubs while their guardians looked on helpless. Sometimes, officers poisoned the dogs or killed them by hanging or electrocution. Under cover of night, the officers raided the rural countryside, provoking dogs to bark so they could find and bludgeon their canine victims to death. By Sunday, July 30th, over 90% of the county's dogs were murdered on the County Government’s orders.
Public health authorities pronounced the massacre necessary to safeguard the county’s human population, dismissing vaccination plans as inadequate. However, even if it had been the case that killing dogs was the only way to protect people from rabies, the animals should have been humanely euthanized, not violently terrorized. The exceptionally malicious and cruel attacks that Public Security Bureau officers perpetrated against China's dogs and their helpless guardians would be inexcusable under any circumstances.
“I am gravely concerned that other counties will follow Mouding's bad example by committing atrocities in the name of public health,” wrote Elliot M. Katz, DVM, President of IDA in a letter to Ambassador Wenzhong. “Please do all in your power to ensure that no other county governments instigate such cruel dog culls. Also please urge the central government to initiate effective preventive measures against the spread of rabies based on vaccination programs and public education.”
IDA has urged its 85,000 members to boycott traveling to China and purchasing products made in China until the country institutes laws to protect animals. Currently, there are no such laws on the books.