CHINESE DOG'S HORROR
TWO DOGS WATCH AS THEIR BRETHREN ARE SLAUGHTERED
DOGS CRAMMED INTO CAGE WAITING SLAUGHTER - CHINESE DOG KILLER ON RIGHT
WHAT AWFUL FEAR MUST BE IN THEIR HEARTS
THIS DEAR SOUL, SO YOUNG, WILL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE AT LIFE
I thought I had witnessed enough suffering and pain that we inflict on animals in this world to last me a lifetime, until recently when I visited a market in Yangshou, a small town in Guangxi Province in China.
In this market I saw first hand the most horrific abuse of man’s best friend imaginable.
The live dogs were crammed in rows towards the back of the market. They were silent, some frozen in terror, others simply resigned to their fate. Most of the dogs were the traditional and ‘tastiest’ yellow dog like my beloved Rama, rescued from Thailand in 1998. However, there were others, including a scruffy little mongrel/terrier cross who looked like a stolen pet, this gentle dog and others crammed together awaiting their brutal demise, gently licked my hands as I was drawn instinctively to them. I wanted to comfort them, but as selfless as dogs are, they probably comforted me more….gentle and trusting to the end. A trust so cruelly betrayed by those with whom they form the closest and most intimate bond.
Most of the dogs were young. One noticeably older and remarkably calm looking dog with sad doleful eyes appeared to be comforting a nervous dog by tenderly licking her ears. Dogs possess the virtues but not the vices of man. Their dignity, courage and gentleness in contrast to such human savagery, is something I will never forget. It defines all what is wrong within the human animal-our destructiveness, malice and greed.
As I watched in horror, dogs were brutally lifted by the neck by their torturers wielding metal tongs. The dogs were stabbed in the neck, some had wire placed round their necks to slowly choke them as they were bled. The dogs were then suspended upside down by their hind legs, from the same cages where their companions were held, watching in terror as the blood flowed from the suspended animals into a bucket placed below their heads.
My first instinct was to try to save some of these poor animals, but with nowhere to take them and more and more baskets crammed full of dogs entering the market quicker than they were killing them, I realised that the only thing I could do was to try to film their treatment in a country which in my mind, is the most cruel nation on earth.
The dogs were suspended for some time still alive and making gurgling noises as they were fighting to breathe. After being bled, they were hoisted down and thrown into a large drum of boiling water. The dogs were still alive, some thrashing violently around as they hit the water. After being boiled alive, the dogs had their fur scraped off their bodies, they were gutted and then blow torched to caramalize/preserve their meat. The dogs were then hung on large hooks in full view of the live dogs in the cages and baskets, or placed directly on top of the cages with the live dogs. Their guts were placed in plastic bags and hung from their legs. The people killing the dogs were chatting, laughing, eating noodles and boiling the animals like vegetables. A poor goat was tethered to the ground nearby witnessing the slaughter of the dogs. The goat was defecating and urinating in fear as it lay helplessly in the blood and guts of the dogs.
The hatchet used for gutting the dogs was hung dripping with blood on the cage containing the live dogs. Every effort was made to terrorise the dogs awaiting their horrendous slaughter. Every effort was made to ensure the animals died a long and agonising death. Torture equals taste to the Chinese.
I had to leave the market after I had filmed as much as I could bear to see. As I was filming I was standing in pools of blood and guts from the slaughtered dogs. I could not bear to see any more especially the brutal death of that little terrier, and left the market in flood of tears. Tears, for being a member of the humane race, tears of frustration that I could not save these animals and tears for the millions of animals living and dying in such a dark and brutal place- China. But my tears will not help these animals only actions do that.
These dogs were being killed for their meat- A thriving trade where huge dog farms have developed in China. The dog meat trade has become more industrialised, even promoted by the government in some provinces. It is estimated that between 10-20 million dogs are killed slowly and violently every year in China, just like the ones I witnessed. Vacuum packed canned dog food is increasingly sold in supermarkets and brutal slaughter methods are openly promoted in books and VCD’s about dog farming.
4 million cats are also consumed and killed every year in equally barbaric ways.
China is the biggest dog and cat eating nation in the world. China is also the world’s biggest fur trade production and processing base in the world.
Up to 2 million dogs and cats are skinned, many while still alive, in China every year. .
85% of fur products are imported from China, most flooding into Europe.
Many of these animals are farmed, so their brutal deaths end a life of unimaginable suffering and cruelty at the hands of people who are driven by greed and devoid of compassion.
Improving animal welfare in China is the greatest challenge of all and although animal welfare groups talk about progress being made, dogs and cats are still being skinned alive and tortured in markets and elsewhere in greater numbers than ever before. The Chinese kill and torture more companion animals than any other nation on earth. I pity any animal born there. Even rats are trapped and killed for their meat in China.
The Chinese have no incentives to change. Chinese products flood our markets and are boosting China’s awesome economic growth. China is hosting the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008. They are preparing for this by cleansing the streets of any dogs they see, not only in Beijing but also Guilin. Needless to say they are doing this in the most brutal fashion to which they are renowned. Chinese leaders are given the red carpet treatment by Western governments. Depressing news indeed for the animals and for those who have witnessed their suffering.
So what can be done?
I made a pledge to those gentle dogs in that market in Yangshou, the dogs I could not save but will never forget, that I will do everything I can to highlight their suffering and brutal treatment in a country emerging as the next world super power. My tears and broken heart will not help them, but exposure of the evil and uncivilised practices that prevail in China together with a relentless campaign to put pressure on the Chinese government leading up to Beijing Olympics, when the world will be focusing on China, offers the only hope for these poor souls. The evidence of their plight will I hope, move others to help me to help them.
Kim Cooling-President Animal SOS Sri Lanka
