37,000 dogs clubbed to death in China

Over 37,000 dogs in the northern Chinese city of Hanzhong have been culled to contain an outbreak of rabies, the local government has said. The cull began earlier this month after 13 people died of rabies after being bitten by dogs. "Our data showed us that the number of dogs carrying the rabies virus has increased and we needed to urgently control this epidemic," said Xing Tianhu, the deputy mayor of the city.

Although Hanzhong has vaccinated over 240,000 dogs for the disease, in the past few weeks, city workers have fanned out across the city and clubbed to death any unattended dogs they found in the street.

One unnamed official said: "Telling people that unattended dogs will be killed is an effective way to contain the epidemic because it encourages dog owners to keep their pets at home," he said.



In one district, Yangxian, every single dog was clubbed to death and graphic photographs have emerged of piles of bodies. Animal rights campaigners said many of the dogs that were killed had been licensed, vaccinated and leashed.

"We are very upset. This is totally wrong. It is not a proper cull but indiscriminate killing. It's not just street dogs, but also household pets. We are organising a petition against this which we will send to the local government," said Ha Wenjing, who runs the Ping'an animal shelter in Nanjing.

Peter Williams, the China director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, said the mass cull could actually open up the territory for dogs from surrounding areas to move into Hanzhong, thus "actually facilitating disease transmission and increasing the threat to human and animal health."