Olympics clean-up Chinese style: Inside Beijing's shocking death camp for cats

Olympics clean-up Chinese style: Inside Beijing's shocking death camp for cats

www.dailymail.co.uk

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Before Olympic Games, China quells dissent (more human rights travesties)
Beijing condemns Olympic row 'ulterior motives'
Count me out- Spielberg quits Olympics

[edit on 3/9/2008 by biggie smalls]

Wow.

I don't even know what to say in regards to the Chinese. First they forcefully move people living in Beijing so they can build the stadium, now they're on a murderous cat rampage.


Doomed: Terrified cats crammed tightly into cages are hauled off to a meat market in Guangzhou






Secretive: The compound at Da Niu Fang which is patrolled by security guards







Refuge: Campaigner Hu Yuan, 80, with some of the 250 cats she has taken in at her Beijing home





A food staple (cats) is giving the Chinese problems in the wake of the Olympics...




www.dailymail.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Well they barely care about their citizens so why doesn't it surprise me that they don't care about cats?

I'll avoid the sterotypical Chinese food joke that I am desperately wanting to insert here, but only because I am an animal lover and it's really not funny.

reply to post by kosmicjack


Its not so much that I'm surprised as much as I'm disgusted with the Chinese government. The US isn't much better though, and we're supposed to be the shining example of western democracy.

As a animal 'owner', I found this particularly disturbing, but as a lover of life, I found this menacing to us all.

What/who is next, political dissidents?

I don't think you noticed my distasteful comment about cats as a food staple...(and I have a cat at home).

And of course, it isnt just cats, its dogs too.

Its tough to see these things as an animal lover. I wonder what the Olympic committee has to say about this?

reply to post by biggie smalls


When I was in college (thusly slightly less than responsible and didn't fix my cat soon enough) I had a cat that had a huge litter and we could not find homes for all of them. We had five left for a while. One day, there was a knock at the door and it was two Asian children about 8-10 years old, nationality unknown, and they asked if they could have ALL of the kittens. At first, I misunderstood them and thought they wanted just one and said yes. Then they started rounding up all of the kittens on the porch. No joke.

Up until that point I just thought the issue was an insensitive stereotype. It maybe, but as far as I am concerned it has at least some truth to it.

Please ATS, no flames. I just report the facts.

reply to post by InSpiteOf

You are right, I think there are many reasons to boycott the Beijing Olympics.

reply to post by InSpiteOf


That's pretty messed up...

The Olympic community as a whole doesn't really care that much about how the Chinese treat their citizens, so I imagine animals wouldn't rank very high on their list of priorities.

However, Steven Spielberg quits so apparently not everyone involved turned a blind eye.

I do not see much help coming for these poor animals though, let alone the Chinese civilians who have been murdered.

The only solution may well be to Not Boycott China. For them to have any hope of a Free future they must be exposed to more people and information from Western Democracies. Information and education are what brings these Dictatorial Governments down.

In a culture where Cats are like Chicken, a form of livestock commonly eaten, I don't think they see this the same way as we do. There may be many who abhor the inhumane treatment, but killing them is probably not an emotional issue. It is the inhumane treatment that I see as an issue.

Your other thread was a far more poignant example of abuse that should have the world screaming. Putting on a pretty face is to be expected anywhere an event like this is hosted. Causing innocent people to suffer is a different matter.

I'm saddened because I know you won't get much response to this thread, just like the other you linked. It would seem if the true evil countries do these things very few here care. If the US Government or British Government started slaughtering cats these posts would end up dozens of pages long.

the way we (humans in general) treat other people and animals, speaks volumes about the person themself.

Some times you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

I love animals, but, we are part of a food chain. We are at the top of this chain, No?

Animals can cause disease and how many threads have I seen that say "China will cause the next outbreak" and "China is so dirty!" and other such stuff. I've written in them myself, but unlike most of you I've actually been to China and seen what a hole for the most part it really is with my own two eyes! Although there has been a slight improvement in the last few years.

In China people do not care about animals and from what I've seen there tends to be lots of feral cats in every village and more so in the city. Clearing up these animals is a dirty horrid job, but it will need to be done across the whole of the country sooner or latter.

Yes I understand that this is more for the vanity of the olympic games, but even so there are other issues here. Health being a major one.

Go back a few hundred years and you could be in the US or North Africa and it wouldn't be cats in the cages it would be black people. Go back 70 years and it was Jews in Europe. At least it is just cats.

Mind you I wouldn't be surprised if they had a similar program for the homeless.

I don't think that China is ready to hold the olympics, but I do feel that some good can come from it. Progress people! Everyone wants to be better than they are, it's human nature.

I for one have seen a change in China, it is not an easy progression for these people, they are for the most part poor and uneducated. Unfortunatly they all want the American dream!! And we've seen how that turns out.

MonKey

Originally posted by biggie smalls
The Olympic community as a whole doesn't really care that much about how the Chinese treat their citizens, so I imagine animals wouldn't rank very high on their list of priorities.

Yes the Olympic committie is basically a bunch of PIMPS for hire to the highest bidder. Look at the graft that took place for the Salt Lake City games. China basically bought the games as a comming out party for themselves and the IOC was happy to oblige for the right amount of $$$ and bribes.

The animal issue aside:

Forced Evictions and the Tenants' Rights Movement in China

And this from 2004 is just the tip of the iceberg.

Add to this the appalling human rights record, they should have NEVER been given the game.

i love animals even tho i love to hunt - but do not kill just to kill.
i understand cats are a staple food for them- hell with that many people living there what isn't?
if they are going to use them for food and disease control i see np with it. we are the supreme predator on earth you know.
if they are doing it to just make the city look clean for the ioc shame on them then.(and it does seem like that to me)
and i have always wondered- peta claims animal rights blah blah blah- but why are some animals ok to kill but not others?
aren't mosquitos, ants, roaches, snakes, rats, mice, fish etc animals also? so why is it ok to kill them but not deer dogs cats etc? is it only cuddly cute animals that you can't kill and will cause outrage??
and think about it- in india the cow is sacred- so where is their outrage at us eating beef? esp. if they have ever seen our slaughterhouses and farms.
each culture has their own foods they like. that is their business and noone elses.
and btw- i have 2 cats- they are my kids- i would never dream of hurting them except sometimes when they attack me and bite the # out of my hands lol

Originally posted by biggie smalls
reply to post by kosmicjack

 

Its not so much that I'm surprised as much as I'm disgusted with the Chinese government. The US isn't much better though, and we're supposed to be the shining example of western democracy.

As a animal 'owner', I found this particularly disturbing, but as a lover of life, I found this menacing to us all.

What/who is next, political dissidents?

I don't think you noticed my distasteful comment about cats as a food staple...(and I have a cat at home).

You have me confused here .... are you talking about China.. or the US .. because your American comment thrown in there really makes no sense..

We are a "shining" example of Democracy or rather supposed to be, in the context of Cats.. yet I do not hear of any federal cat round ups lately.. So I am not sure what your meaning.. I mean, few things can be compared to this.. so.. ya.

Anyways.

Political Dissidents? .. Again, China or America? .. Because that first comment is throwing me off.

If you know anything about China, it should be that yes. Political dissidents tend to "disappear". Tianamen Square (how ever you spell it..) ring a bell?

Anyways.. we are talking about a country that still operates sweat shops on a level seen no where else in the world, kills political dissidents, demolishes houses to build more expensive houses forcing the last inhabitants to live on the streets with no compensation, who starves villages and farmers taking their food to supply and support their massive overpopulated cities, who hold few safety guidelines protecting consumers, just to name a very few, and now they round up cats and murder them as well.

Big surprise..

A good example of "China" is this. Anyone ever heard of the "Body Exhibit" .. ya know, the one with cut up Humans put in glass cases and we all go and stare at them? .. There are a few operating in the US right now. The mane exhibit Body Exhibit (the first one) stopped using donated bodies from China.. Why? .. The Chinese government said they where all John Does.. in reality it turned out they where political dissidents..

There is another exhibit of the same type, and the latest rumor coming from that one *note this exhibit operating now in Cincinnati is owned by a Chinese man* is that the bodies are once again "unknown" and their trails lead back to most likely secret Chinese prisons for political dissidents then turned over to the black market to make a quick buck.

I have few good things to say about China. Few indeed.. America and the Western World should cut them off completely and stop importing their crap. And they can keep Wall Mart.

amagade nuke iran

oh wrong thread


anyway this never happens in the civilized USA does it

www.abovetopsecret.com...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An official report from People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), submitted nine months after a Virginia government agency's deadline, shows that the animal rights group put to death more than 97 percent of the dogs, cats, and other pets it took in for adoption in 2006. During that year, the well-known animal rights group managed to find adoptive homes for just 12 pets

oh wait yes it does

Yanks are too goody-goody, namby-hoity, lotti-dotti, wishy-pamby, toity-washy, cuddly-wuddly with their animals. Kitty and Scruffy taste just as good as, I say, I say, as good as Foghorn Leghorn!

Anyhow, people seem to think that eating dogs and cats is common in Asia. It's only as common in asia as it is uncommon in the US. Usually it's in impoverished rural areas, or in the back of expensive resturants by eccentric wealthy patrons.. That article is very deceptive because it speaks of cats being rounded up in BEIJING, while also showing pictures of cats in GUANGZHOU that is 1,200 miles away.

I've visited China a few times and never came across any places that openly served cat. Almost every Chinese person I talked to said they never eat cat or dog, that they don't even know where cat is served, and that most people don't eat it, even when they do, it is usually not domestic cat, but a civet - and the rare establishment that serves it are always met by protests if it is well known. It is actually illegal to sell domestic cat in most places (Cat connoisseurs know they have about a 20% chance of eating catmeat when they order mutton at certain locations around Shanghai, so it depends on enforcement, and how well the resturant can hide it (by selling it as mutton or kebabs)

This is a civet:



and it is illegal to sell them. When they are found, they are exterminated because they are suspected - like the Beijing domestic cats - of being partly responsible for SARS as well as other diseases, which is more or less a cover story to clean up the city. There doesn't appear to be a clear link, but widom would tell you better safe than SAR-ry, eh? I don't recall hearing too much moaning when they slaughtered another source of meat - chickens - but chickens are ugly, stupid bird brains, right?

If a resturant is caught serving civets, it will be shut down. Dog is also illegal in Hong Kong, among a few other places - but you can eat it outside of Hong Kong. You usually have to get it from a meat market, but I've seen a few places that kill it fresh as ordered. Guangzhou/Guangdong
from the story has a "tradition" of eating cats, but the practice is mostly isolated there as a phenomenon. Activists are rampant and have been known to form groups of 100 or so people, burst into resturants, and DEMAND that the cats be freed NOW.

I've also been to the Philippines, where some people in rural area eat dogs, and I've seen them killed, cooked, smelled the dog BBQ, and tried it. It taste like chicken, as does cat. They are generally looked down upon by everyone else with even a slightly higher income bracket. It's also illegal. Never have I seen it, or heard of it in a resturant. I did meet a man who was a rebel during Martial law there, and he regularly ate cat, dog, and at least once... a Muslim human! (although, he didn't know it until after the fact but did say it tasted sweet) Of course, he was living in the jungle at the time fighting the government.

In both places, eating dog and cat is either a rare eccentric delicacy, isloated to a particlar subculture/superstition, a statistically insignificant acquired taste, or a food of last resort.

99% (probably more) of Chinese people do not eat cats, but that still makes around 13 million Chinese that do. It's a large number, but nothing compared to their population of almost 1.5 billion. So to say an any terms that cats are like chicken to the Chinese, or that it is a staple food is more than an exageration.

If you actually believe that cat meat is rampant in China, then look at this: People in Japan (I've lived there too, and have had more than a few people ask me if they eat cats) Well, they do! - while they are still alive!

Harlequin

....You know PETA is not a federal agency right?...

Its a private organization. Hypocritical and widely hated here in the US for its... tactics... of which I despise probably more so then China.

I don't think you knew that though. Or perhaps did not care and decided to ommitt that little fact.

If you ask me, it's just mankind mistreating and eating other animals as it has been doing for thousands of years...

Look what's done to chicken, or cow, or pigs in places where they are popular meat.

Peace


edit: to make it clearer

[edit on 10-3-2008 by Sator]

Two, maybe three years ago I watched a report on television that showed a video of dogs being prepared in China. They were dipping them live into vats of hot peanut oil to make removing the hide easier. There was no emotion on the faces of those dipping them.

I don't have an issue with the eating of any animal. It is the cruel treatment and inhumane methods that bother me. Being raised on and around farms and ranches; I never once saw livestock being treated inhumanely. In fact they were pampered. When we slaughtered an animal it was done in a way to cause instantaneous death and up to that point they were received the best of care.

What is offensive to Western sensibilities is the mistreatment while they are still living. No matter what culture it takes a sick person to do that to another living thing.

PETA? Forget PETA. Their real goal is the elimination of all domestic animals from the face of the Earth. They try to hide this but their insiders know that has been the goal all along. They also tried to hide the fact they financially supported ALF / ELF. They only stopped when they got outed. They are not a humane organization and never have been. They want your pet(s) dead! I think many who support them have been tricked.

I think much of the issue of the eating of cats comes from when we took in Vietnamese and Cambodian Immigrants. They were not exactly secretive about their taste for cat meat. That is where I got that idea and I should have been more careful not to assume the same of the Chinese.

reply to post by Sator


Next time you are at a mirror, look at your teeth. You have the teeth of an Omnivore. Meat is part of your natural diet. To not eat meat is to eat an Unnatural Diet for your Species. Even Apes eat meat when available. Vegans have to take supplements and go to great lengths to get enough protein. If we were to remove animal protein from the worlds diet overnight a huge part of the population would immediately starve.