Author Topic: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China  (Read 6938 times)

Offline Edwpang

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Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« on: January 29, 2008, 04:56:02 pm »
I have been looking around in Chinese dog related forums for a while, and found some really disturbing even sickening information about how pets are treated there.
* Dog and cats are eaten in resturants or privately on a daily basis even in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
* Local animal control personnel forcefully take away from or kill them in front of their owners.
* A lot of People abandon their pets like used dolls. Stray dogs and cats can be found everywhere in crowded cities and coutry side.
* General misunderstandi ng about dogs with the misleading information from state run media
* Lack of basic knowledge about pets of ever growing pet owners.
* Ineffective or wrong government pet regulation:
  * 38cm height limitation in effect in many cities including Beijing.
  * overpriced regitration fee for dogs, ex.
         Beijing: 1000RMB
         Shanghai: 2000RMB(larger dog like Golden Retreiver is not banned).
         Guangzhou: 10000RMB!?
   It's cheaper in smaller cities.
* ineffective rabies control
The list can go on and on...

Please voice your support...

Thanks
« Last Edit: January 29, 2008, 07:56:17 pm by Edwpang »

Offline Mojo1269

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2008, 07:49:48 pm »
Without getting into a huge geo-polical discussion about the re-emergence of China as an industrial power it is still a very remote and dated society.  The attrocities with animals goes well beyond dogs.  They are responsible for counltess other violations that will make you sick to your stomache. There are may advocacy groups out trying to help but China is today what the Wild Wild West was 150 years ago.  I was ther for Business last year and was amazed and appalled all at the same time.
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Offline mynameislola

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2008, 09:59:24 pm »
Some people make a distinction between livestock and pets.  Others don't. 

The thing that surprises me the most about people and their attitudes toward animals is that some people who will dress up a dog for the holiday will, on the other hand, give little or no thought to how their turkey made its way to their table.

And then there are people, myself included, who will say, "Shoo the turkey off the table and let's eat our vegetables!"
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Offline Edwpang

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2008, 11:31:51 pm »
Sorry, but distinction between livestock and pets is not the topic of this thread.

Offline macybean

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2008, 01:21:53 am »
On the contrary, the destinction between livestock and pets is very important to this thread. Simply because other societies do not view dogs as we do doesn't make us 'right' and them 'wrong'. IF you view all animal life the same way (as say a vegetarian or vegan) and can say that is wrong to eat any animal, then I suppose you can say that those in China and other countries who eat dogs are doing something wrong. However, if you are going to try to make a distinction and say that eating dogs is wrong, but eating chicken, pigs, or deer is right or okay, then yes, it does boil down to the distinction between livestock and pets.

That said, of course I don't like that people eat dogs; however, it is a bit holier than thou for a person to say that the animals that their society eats are okay for consumption yet to say that the consumption of a different species in another society is 'wrong' unless that person is not actively participating in the consumption of any animal species. (There is probably some argument for the consumption of fish if you want to draw the line at a species fit for consumption not having a limbic system.) Saying you don't like it is one thing (opinions are different than passing moral judgement), but to say that they are 'wrong' for it is xenocentric.

Again, I don't like that they eat dogs, and of course, it's great if people want to voice their opinions. I just think that it is important to say that our Western distinction between pets and livestock is at the heart of this issue and something to consider.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 01:50:55 am by macybean »

Offline mynameislola

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2008, 02:18:50 am »
My view is that there is a fundamental difference in how people in various areas regard animals.  Let me be more specific.

Broadly speaking, there are no pets in China.  Animals there are livestock meaning they are beasts of burden, food, or sources of fur.  The Chow Chow has such a nice coat because it made a nice coat.

Part of the reason the Chinese government is so set against keeping animals in the city is that they can barely feed their people, let alone dogs and cats.  The Chinese are notorious for limiting breeding among their human population so it should be no surprise that they would limit animal population too.

There is little or no infectious disease control and the sanitation issue is huge.  One recent kill-off was after three people died from being bitten by a rabid dog.  

My family in Central America and friends in Mexico think it is hilarious that I and other Americans socialize dogs to strange people and places.  They tell me to save training time and just teach my dogs to open the door for the criminals.   When visiting in France, you will find that many restaurants have horse meat on the menu.

Every place is different and it is unreasonable to expect other countries to act the way we do towards animals when they have a history of acting differently going back perhaps thousands of years.  

I made my stand on the subject as a teenager, back in the 1970s, by becoming a vegetarian and boycotting Chinese goods because of their animal and human rights abuses.  The only exception I have made recently was my iPod.

As far as I know, legal protection for animals does not exist in China.



« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 02:21:48 am by mynameislola »
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Offline Edwpang

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Re: Current Situation of Dogs and other pets in China
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2008, 02:49:35 am »
My view is that there is a fundamental difference in how people in various areas regard animals.  Let me be more specific.

Broadly speaking, there are no pets in China.  Animals there are livestock meaning they are beasts of burden, food, or sources of fur.  The Chow Chow has such a nice coat because it made a nice coat.

Part of the reason the Chinese government is so set against keeping animals in the city is that they can barely feed their people, let alone dogs and cats.  The Chinese are notorious for limiting breeding among their human population so it should be no surprise that they would limit animal population too.

There is little or no infectious disease control and the sanitation issue is huge.  One recent kill-off was after three people died from being bitten by a rabid dog. 

...
Every place is different and it is unreasonable to expect other countries to act the way we do towards animals when they have a history of acting differently going back perhaps thousands of years. 

I made my stand on the subject as a teenager, back in the 1970s, by becoming a vegetarian and boycotting Chinese goods because of their animal and human rights abuses.  The only exception I have made recently was my iPod.

As far as I know, legal protection for animals does not exist in China.

Sadly what you have said is almost true in China. But there are increasing number of pet lovers in China. Some of them are working to change this. A lot of well-know pet food brands are sold in China. Even Canidae, Innova, and such like higher end brands are exported there...
« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 02:50:22 am by Edwpang »