Date
August 25, 2006
Contact
Bill Dyer
(310) 301-7730 or (917) 309-8973
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 Warns Chinatown Shoppers
“Man’s Best Friends Tortured in China”
Los Angeles—In the wake of the brutal execution of at least 54,429 dogs in Mouding County in an effort to stem the spread of rabies, members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will gather at the Gateway to Chinatown to expose passersby to China’s chilling record of cruelty to animals.
When: Sunday, August 27, 2006 12:00 noon
Where: Gateway to Chinatown, 600 North Broadway at Cesar Chavez
In a shocking display of cruelty that has triggered an international outcry, Chinese officials in the southeastern county of Mouding in Yunnan Province ordered tens of thousands of dogs to be killed. The reason: A third human death from rabies in a county of 200,000 people.
A massive task force led by the Director of the Public Security Bureau carried out the mass-killing over a five day-period beginning on Tuesday, July 25th. In cities around the county, task force officers stopped guardians who were walking their dogs and beat the animals to death with clubs while their guardians looked on in horror. 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. All of this was done on the County Government's orders.
China is notorious for cruelty to animals. A 2004 investigation of fur farms in China showed workers attempting to stun foxes and raccoon dogs by repeatedly slamming them against the ground or bashing their heads with clubs. Such unreliable methods also left many animals fully conscious after the fur was ripped from their bodies. Fur from China ends up in stores all across America.
More than half of the world’s fur products are imported from China, a country where there are no animal welfare regulations. “IDA joins activists worldwide and musician Paul McCartney in asking for a boycott of the Beijing 2008 Olympics and all products labeled ‘Made in China’,” says IDA spokesperson Bill Dyer.
For more information on IDA’s anti-fur campaign, please visit www.FurKills.org.