Nothing Changed since Olympics in Beijing: Still no Help for Animals!
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Dear Honorable Government Officials,
The ongoing assault on animals shames China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Government-supervised dog culls have already generated negative publicity. Now, cats are corralled into cages and trucked to compounds as part of a "disease prevention" sweep of Beijing's estimated 500,000 cats. I understand tens of thousands of cats have been collected since last July.
Citizens worldwide are outraged by press accounts that describe Beijing kindergarten teachers thrashing cats to death with sticks or residents discarding pets in the streets for roundup by killing squads. Labeling cats a health risk linked to the 2003 SARS outbreak does not disguise the government's true motive: To clean-up the capital in time to greet tourists during the Olympics. In fact, extermination of companion animals lead to international boycotts of the Games. Mass kills reveal how misinformed and barbaric Chinese animal control policies truly are.
I call upon officials to stop present and future killing of companion animals. Reactive culls are a crude solution to complex health issues and ultimately do little to control strays or stop disease transmission. I also ask officials to uphold their statement about permitting people to adopt confiscated cats from at least 12 urban pounds. Humane groups have told global media they're denied entry into these filthy compounds where most cats perish from disease. One group allowed inside reported "about 70 cats kept in cages stacked one on top of the other in two tiny rooms." Most cats don't get out alive.
Please lower the current 200-yuan fee to have pets neutered and tagged. The high price prompts some people to abandon their pets. Rather than collect and kill, I urge you to activate low-cost neutering and registration so your citizens can afford their companion animals. If China wants to project a sophisticated image after the Olympics, it must foster a culture of responsible guardianship, disease prevention and humane education in keeping with 21st Century animal welfare standards.
I respectfully await your reply,
