http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/china-orders-mass-slaughter-of-dogs/20060801000009990001

Instead of just testing dogs for rabies, let's kill them all!
As a dog lover I can hardly believe this and I feel sorry for those who were affected by this.

For the record, I'm not some kind of crazy racist who thinks chinese are retards. I actually find China really interesting. I'm even studying Cantonese.

Anyone who disagrees with China's genocide of canines is clearly a racist.

Seriously, though. Check this out from that article:


Actually, yes, their lives are more important. Key difference between humans and dogs? Dogs don't order genocide on humans. We should at least treat them with that same respect.

Not to mention the fact that with modern medicine, rabies is not lethal. So I wouldn't give two shits if a relative was infected with rabies.

.: Kennedy0 :.

There are probably so many dogs in question that testing them all would be impossible. I remember when I visited my dad's factory in China, dogs were said to run everywhere. Dogs were also said to have been stolen to be eaten. Especially black ones...they supposedly have warmer meat.

I think the main problem is this:



Thinking back to SARS and the bird flu...I'm not surprised. China was probably facing two options: it could either improve its health care system and provide better health services to its citizens, including those who live all the way in the countryside. Or it could kill all dogs.

Killing all dogs is a band-aid solution but it's probably cheaper. Remember, this is the country who thought suppressing the news of a SARS outbreak was a good idea. :S

Once the symptoms of rabies appear, it's usually fatal. Very rarely do people actually survive the symptoms and when they do, it's even more rare for them to survive without brain damage. If you don't have access to modern medicine or you're unaware you're infected with rabies, you're screwed.

[Edit: I wish they wouldn't beat the dogs to death though. That part really didn't make sense to me.]

.: Black Kitty :.

"..and because it's rabies, we must kill the dogs in the most brutal fashion possible." :axe:

I don't really see this as being terribly different from the mass slaughter of birds in other countries because of bird flu.

That's because its not. But many people feel that an animal doesn't count unless its cute.


If someone gets bit by a dog foaming at the mouth or otherwise and they don't get help, they deserve to die for sheer stupidity.

Just because its cheaper to kill dogs, doesn't mean its right. In fact, I think they should let it happen. Population control. They need it.

.: Kennedy0 :.

Yeah, because that's so much more humane.

I'm going to defend the Chinese government halfway on this. Halfway because the mass slaughter of dogs is basically to cover up that they let the problem get this bad in the first place and probably don't have any better way to stop it.

That said, I've been to China, and there's a real wild dog problem. If there's a worry about a fast-spreading disease, killing a lot of dogs is probably not a bad idea.

.: mrpedant :.

all countries do stupid things sometimes.

meh, if you have too many animals that pose a significant threat to people's welfare then killing them is about the sum of what you can do about it.

Not all dogs who have rabies foam at the mouth. Some are unnaturally quiet and withdrawn.

If China had a better working health care system and a control on the wild dog population, this probably wouldn't have been an issue. But they don't and since the government is there to protect people first, dogs second, dogs unfortunately get the raw end of the stick.

They probably could have found a better way to put them down though. :S Why they think beating them in the streets is a good idea I have no clue.

.: Black Kitty :.

The simple answer is because it's cheap and easy. Clubs are cheaper than guns, and you don't have to reload them. Chemicals are expensive, and require catching the animal first, then restraining, then injecting the poison. It's the same reason they club cows in the head with a mallet instead of a quicker, less messy method of death: it's easy, and it gets the job done.

AGREED!




.: Kennedy0 :.

Be honest and reasonable here then. If a passive quiet dog bit you...would you automatically think rabies?

While I think the Chinese government could have handled it better, a government's first concern should be the welfare of its citizens. I know that may sound amusing considering this is China but if we're going to start having prejudices against stupid people, I would imagine there'll be barely anyone left on this earth.

.: Black Kitty :.

The SARS scare was kind of over done, though, wasn't it? If I'm not mistaken, people with SARS have a 91% chance of living, and suffer from nothing more than headaches and discomfort. I don't know... well, anything about the bird flu, but I do remember something about Killer Bees a few years back that turned out to be nothing. Given such a track record with recent disease scares, you have to wonder exactly how bad this rabies scare really is.

Rabies IS incurable and fatal though, and it is easily spread by dogs.

Especially in a country where some villages are so behind the times, they tie condoms over their doors to ward off the baby spirits.

.: isukun :.

We tend to get spoiled here in America. If there's a spread of rabies among dogs, we have the option to catch the dogs and take them to the vet to be tested. If we're hungry, we have the option to go to the store. If we're sick, go to the hospital. If your car breaks, take the bus, call a taxi, ask your friend for a ride.

But some places just don't have the resources to do that sort of thing. They're having enough trouble just keeping everyone fed; they can't afford to pick and choose which dogs could kill people. Hell, according to some people, many Chinese will end up eating the dogs (how true is this, by the way? Is it a common practice, or limited to slums and the like?).

If I was in China and I just heard there was a rabies outbreak? Yes. Hell fucking yes.


True, but from what I've seen, they're decently sophisticated where this happened and seem perfectly capable of other options. But I'm going by the little I've seen, so I could be wrong.

But in all honesty I can't really participate in this subject because I have always thought of animals on a higher ground than humans. They aren't racist, they only kill what they need, and depending on where you live they smell better.

.: Kennedy0 :.

Well china (despite apparently being the first country to keep dogs as pets) has for a long time been one of the few countries where people eat dogs, it's generally not a common thing due to them being expensive to raise (requiring meat or meat based feed and the like), but there are people who eat them. but yeah, lots of free dog meat for people! hurrah!

I don't think anyone is going to be able to eat these dogs, since the bodies probably have to be destroyed to avoid the spread of the disease.

As for animals only killing what they need... not true. It's true that very few animals hunt for sport (the only one I know for certain is the wolverine), but animals can be cruel and fucked up too. Have you ever seen a cat toying with a mouse? They might not have any intention of eating it, but they'll sure as hell bat it around and scare the living crap out of it.

Humans are nothing but animals with logical thought processes and moral values. Other than that, we're no different. Actually, I've been writing a book that has this as one of the central themes. In it, one of the characters talks about what he calls "the Law of the Wild" which states basically the following:
1)All things must kill to survive.
2)All things follow their race's social structure, if they have one.
3)All things will eventually die.
If there is any organism that doesn't follow those three laws, I've never heard of it. But, yeah. Even humans follow these laws. (don't tell me that vegitarians don't follow the first one. Plants are living things too) Going around, slaughtering dogs like that merely proves how primitive we really are.

You know for a webcomic message board, you people are awfully humorless.

.: Kennedy0 :.

Hey, this is a serious debate, and aside from your smell comment at the end, there was no reason to believe you didn't mean that comment in complete seriousness. All things considered, it would be just about as easy to consider my response to be a joke as it would to consider yours one as well.

So if you're going to make a joke, make sure it's funny, or you run the risk of people taking you seriously :wink:

Jesus Christ, chill. A debate doesn't imply seriousness any more than the other boards here.

.: Kennedy0 :.

I bet the Hot Dog industry in China is making a killing right now...

[quote="Inkmonkey"]The simple answer is because it's cheap and easy. Clubs are cheaper than guns, and you don't have to reload them. Chemicals are expensive, and require catching the animal first, then restraining, then injecting the poison.quote]

Two words: Wood chipper. You take the dog, and run it through the wood chipper while it is still alive. Send it through ass first though so it doesn't die right away. It is cheap, efficient, and doesn't leave a bunch of corpses. Just do it over a 3 foot hole, and throw some dirt in when you're done.

.: equinox :.

I always wonder how people have time to complain about how other people treat animals when other people still treat PEOPLE like crap.

ps. diew lay lo mo.

You mean like me? People don't really deserve any better than what they get, unlike animals.

.: Kennedy0 :.

Tsk tsk~

.: Black Kitty :.