BEIJING — The official Xinhua News Agency
reported on Sunday that the Southern Chinese authorities killed almost 5,000
dogs in one city following the death of five humans last month. Their death was
blamed on rabies and as a result,Chinese government
implemented a massive campaign that aimed at stopping of a rabies outbreak.
Xinhua added that the of Baoshan in
southwestern Yunnan province slaughtered another 4,900 dogs and vaccinated
another 100,000 in its anti-rabies campaign. The city released an urgent order asking
for authorities to tightly control dogs and kill stray ones.
Anti-rabies campaigns are not new in China
because regional governments often order mass dog culls or issue bans on animal
ownership especially dogs to minimize the rabies outbreak. However, such
campaigns have ignited outcry from some
dog owners and animal rights activists. Rather than killing the animals,both
dog owners and animal right activists plead for disinfecting and vaccinating them.
In 2009, authorities in the northern city of
Hanzhong reportedly killed about 37,000 dogs to stop the virus after a rabies outbreak. This includes hitting some of the animals to death.
Since
2006 in the southwestern part of China, an estimated 50,000 dogs were hanged, electrocuted or
clubbed animals to death in a single week.
