China has announced that it is killing tens of thousands of dogs to help "prevent the spread of rabies." Government officials were sent around to murder dogs. As if it were not already despicable enough, the executioners murdered the dogs in an absolutely inhumane method - by beating them to death with clubs. Meanwhile, the pets' owners - be they men, women, and/or children - watch helplessly as their pets yelp and whimper helplessly as they are beaten to death. "Dogs being walked were seized from their owners and beaten to death on the spot... Led by the county police chief, killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get dogs barking, then beat the animals to death, the reports said."[1]
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Without question the above is representative of unethical, inhumane, savage people - that is, the leaders who made the decision and those who carried out the executions - who are willing to kill anything in order to atone for their own failures and shortcomings. But, if this is the way the Chinese government opts to solve its problems then, in keeping with this method of thinking, I have the solution to their most prominent dilemma: overcrowding. Take all of the children under the age of 10 and round them up. Then load them onto long-range transport aircraft for movement to the Arctic region. There they will be dropped off so they may provide a source of food for polar bears, whose population has been dwindling in recent years thanks to that "mysterious" (at least according to the Bush administration) global warming. That is no more criminal nor cruel than clubbing dogs to death in the streets in mainland China. And just as was done with the owners of the dogs, we will offer to every parent whose child or children were "relocated" all of 63 cents per child.
Spokesman Li Haibo said of the decision, “With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the dogs.” And what about the horrible disease of an inept, corrupt government? Would it not be fair to encourage the mass assassination of government officials by stating: "With the aim to keep this horrible disease from people, we decided to kill the government leaders." It was reported that in 2004 there were 2,651 deaths from rabies in China. For a country with such an overpopulation problem, not to mention a woefully disproportionate number of males to females (another problem of their own creation), I fail to see the significance. However, given that only 3% of its dogs have been immunized, the spread of rabies is a predicament created by the government, yet they are in effect punishing the dogs for their own failure.
Perhaps Mahatma Ghandi summed it up perfectly when he said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
The Chinese government's actions validate the argument that humans are without question the most (and only) destructive organism on the planet. We offer no benefit to the ecosystem, yet we are solely responsible for the creation of a plethora of problems. And this is what people refer to as the most evolved species? While we humans are at the extreme end of the spectrum, it is at the other end [of the spectrum], for we are the least evolved species on the planet.
While I do believe their actions are sometimes on the extreme fringe, PETA has called for a boycott of everything from China, an action that is both justified and reasonable. PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said the group had "canceled all orders of merchandise it sells that are made in China." "Will Wright, at PETA’s European office in London, said the orders were worth about $300,000." [2] It is nice to see an organization in the West that still has loyalty that extends beyond the almighty dollar. Obviously the U.S. government and its so called "leaders" in Congress will remain silent on the issue, for, just as they have done with other countries in the past, the government and Congress will give a pass to China on almost anything. They gave Saddam Hussein a pass while Iraq and Iran were at war in the 1980s. And Iran got a pass in the 1980s and 1990s, despite having been involved in numerous terrorist attacks on U.S. interests and embassies, which killed several hundred Americans.
As for the idea that mankind is the most evolved, noble being...that is but an illusion. As the above illustrates, too often man returns neither the affection nor the loyalty shown [to them] by domesticated animals. Destructive, arrogant, selfish, hampered by an inability to coexist with its own species, prone to violence over the most insignificant details and/or disagreements, and self-aware yet unable to change its destructive actions and behavior...by no means does that fit the description of an evolved, noble species.
1. "Chinese County clubs 50,000 Dogs to Death," Associated Press (Internet), 1 August 2006.
2. "Killing of Chinese Dogs prompts Anguish," Associated Press (Internet), 7 August 2006.