China Digital Times

China news tagged with: pets (26)

• Chinese Put These Dogs On Pedestals

  

  From USA Today:

  One is named Obama, another goes by Son of Bush. They charge tens of thousands of dollars for sex. Convoys of luxury cars, driven by fans, greet the most expensive studs at airports. Meet the canine gigolos — the purebred Tibetan Mastiffs that have become the latest symbol of China’s growing wealth.

  Pet ownership is booming in a nation where dogs and cats are featured as part of meals and animal abuse remains widespread. But none carries the cachet of the Tibetan Mastiff, one of the largest dog breeds, which can weigh 180 pounds.

  Last month, a Nanjing breeder paid $234,000 for his purebred pooch, reported the Yangtze Evening Times. In September, a young woman in Xian paid $600,000 for her pet, according to the Xian Evening News. Both led airport welcomes with long convoys of pricey automobiles.

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  • December 20, 2009 10:19 PM

• Dog Killings in China Spur Outrage

  

  From Wall Street Journal:

  Animal-welfare advocates complained about a campaign in which a local government has killed 37,000 dogs to fight a rabies outbreak, highlighting a divide in attitudes toward animals as China grows wealthier.

  The city of Hanzhong, in China’s central Shaanxi province, has ordered the killing of all dogs found outside homes in areas hit hardest by the outbreak. Authorities have ordered “dog-beating teams” to canvass the area and beat dogs to death on the spot — including those that have been registered by their owners, said Shi Ruihua, head of the livestock department in Hanzhong’s agriculture bureau.

  Rabies outbreaks are common in rural China. This year, Hanzhong saw a spike in the number of cases. Thirteen people have died there since the outbreak started in early March.

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  • June 18, 2009 1:43 AM

• China Plans First Animal Welfare Law

  

  From The Guardian:

  Chinese legal experts are drawing up proposals for the country’s first animal welfare law, which could criminalise the brutal culling of dogs and other forms of pet maltreatment.

  The recommendations, which will be submitted to the government by the end of the year, come after a public backlash against the authorities for slaughtering dogs to prevent the spread of rabies.

  [...]The draft proposals are said to borrow ideas from the UK on sterilisation programmes and computer chip implants, but the main focus is on preventing maltreatment of animals.

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  • June 16, 2009 12:44 PM

• China’s Rising Standard of Living Applies to Pets Too

  

  In 2007 China spent $757 million on pet food and pet care. In 2008, that number is expected to increase by 15 percent to $870 million. It’s still peanuts — or kibbles — compared to what Americans spend on their pets (over $43 billion projected this year). From Reuters via the IHT:

  “We still eat dog, but not this kind of dog,” Liu Ming, a pet shop salesman said, pointing to a toffee-colored puppy with floppy ears on sale for about 500 yuan, or $70. “We eat much bigger dogs.”

  In the days of Mao, pets were considered a bourgeois indulgence. Now the cute dogs sold in pet shops are spared, while homely mutts tend to be sold at live animal markets as the main ingredient in dog meat stew.

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  • March 17, 2008 9:45 AM

• Video: Year of the Rat, Rise of the Hamster

  

  Only five days into the Year of the Rat, and already prices have tripled – on hamsters. According to BBC News in Beijing, the hamster is now China’s must-have pet:

  Pet shop owners say stocks are running low – and prices high – as children clamour for a furry friend.

  “Rats and mice have a bad image, but hamsters are gentle. You can hold them in your hand and play with them,” Xinhua News Agency reported.

  Pet stores are also reporting an increased interest in other, similar-looking creatures, such as chinchillas and squirrels. But it is the hamster that appears to have caught the imagination.

  The hamster has won favor with Todou users as well, including “fei qi qi,” with her pet, Xiao Huang, in hand:

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  • February 12, 2008 9:08 PM

• Armored Illegal Dog Crackdown Team in Zhengzhou

  

  Don’t panic, this is not a Chinese version of “Hellboy”. It is an armored illegal dog crackdown team in Zhengzhou city. Summarized and translated by CDT. Photos and story from East Today Daily:

  

  East Today Daily reported today that last Saturday scores of vehicles and members of the Urban Management Team were in battle array and marching in line at the Green City Plaza at Zhengzhou. This was the largest law enforcement action in Zhengzhou City. The aim was to remove illegal dogs. Since October 1st, the “Zhengzhou City Dog Raising Management Ordinance” has been formally implemented. After that, Zhengzhou City Dog Raising Management Office announced that dog licenses would be issued until the end of October. Then the Urban Management Team would investigate and punish the illegal dogs. So far, over 10,000 dogs in Zhengzhou have been formally licensed.

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  • October 29, 2007 8:26 PM

• China Uses Chips in Dog Crackdown – BBC News

  

  From BBC News:

  The Chinese authorities in an area of Beijing have begun implanting digital chips into dogs in a bid to cut down on the number of unregistered dogs.

  Chips the size of a rice grain are being injected into the necks of dogs in a pilot project in the Xicheng district, Xinhua news agency reports.

  The chip contains details of the dog’s breed, birth, inoculations and owner….[Full Text]

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  • May 5, 2007 4:52 PM

• Photo: A dog in Beijing enjoys a swim

  

  

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  • May 3, 2007 9:31 PM

• Main Photo: Old Town Dog

  

  

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  • April 25, 2007 10:54 PM

• China Yields to Inquiry on Pet Food – David Barboza

  

  From The New York Times:
  
  

  China on Monday has given American regulators permission to enter the country to investigate whether Chinese suppliers exported contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States earlier this year, leading to one of the largest pet food recalls in American history.

  Representatives of the United States Food and Drug Administration had been blocked from entering China, despite growing evidence that the tainted pet food that killed at least 16 cats and dogs and sickened thousands of other animals in the United States originated with Chinese exporters of wheat gluten and other animal feed ingredients.

  The F.D.A. confirmed Monday that it has now opened a criminal investigation into the pet food scandal, but the agency did not name the target or say whether any American companies may have intentionally laced animal feed with banned ingredients. On Tuesday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is scheduled to hold hearings on how to secure the safety of the country’s food supply. [Full Text]

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  • April 23, 2007 9:52 PM

• China Opens Investigation into Pet Food Contaminant – Lisa Wade McCormick

  

  From ConsumerAffairs.com:

  
  
  China says it is investigating claims that a Chinese company exported the melamine-tainted wheat gluten linked to the illnesses and deaths of scores of pets in the United States.
  
  
  
  It the first time China has responded to the U.S. ban on wheat gluten imported from the Chinese company Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. That company reportedly supplied the tainted wheat gluten that trigger a massive recall of nearly 100 brands of pet food in the Untied States. [Full Text]

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  • April 7, 2007 8:50 PM

• China Pet’s Funerals “Fit For a King” – Weired Asia

  

  From Weired Asia Blog:

  According to Xinmin Evening News, Zhang Weifeng, a local veterinarian, was busy hunting for a pet tomb these days in Shanghai for his client, Zhou Ying. Zhou’s 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel had just died recently and she wanted to find a permanent resting place for her pet. As a newcomer to Shanghai, she hoped to get some help from local citizens.

  Zhang knew a pet cemetery hidden in an agricultural park and recommended it to Zhou Ying. Our reporter recently found the place, and made a special trip to visit it. Several marble tombstones could be seen in the shade of lush green trees, each covering an area of 4-6 sq m, with the pet’s name and dates of birth and death carved on it.[Full Text]

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  • December 16, 2006 10:47 AM

• Activists Cheer Proposed Animal Fur Ban – Alexa Olesen

  

  From AP:
  
  

  Chinese animal rights activists welcomed a proposed European Union ban on imports of dog and cat fur, saying Tuesday it would pressure the Beijing government to enact better legal protections for animals, while the government denied torture and cruelty are widespread.

  The European Union proposed the ban Monday in all 25 member nations, saying cats and dogs were being kept in cages and slaughtered in cruel conditions for their fur.

  Humane Society International estimates 2 million cats and dogs are killed for fur each year, with an estimated 5,400 killed in China each day. A ban on dog and cat fur has been in place in the United States since 2000, but activists complain that labeling is not required on items costing less than $150, so dog and cat fur can be used without consumers’ knowledge.
  [Full Text]

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  • November 21, 2006 9:32 PM

• A Law That Says Man Can Have Only One ‘Best Friend’ – Jim Yardley

  

  From New York Times:

  Wu Tianyu gave fair warning about the odor and then pushed open the heavy metal door to the ground-floor apartment. The smell rushed out, and so did the tiny dogs, tongues wagging, yipping, unaware of their central role in an issue gripping China’s capital city.

  The small apartment was the equivalent of a safe house: Ms. Wu, head of a local animal rescue association, had stashed about 10 strays and handicapped mutts. She said the dogs, one paralyzed, another recovering from a broken spine, should be exempt from a new “strike hard” campaign against dogs in Beijing. But she was not certain. [Full Text]

  
  
  - See China Daily’s for-government story Dog policy ‘not infringing owners’ rights’, a perfect example of not-so-great journalism where out of many paragraphs only one gives a bit of voice to the public, let alone protests:

  In articles published on the Internet, dog owners claimed security officers forced them to give up their dogs. They said it was offensive to have their dogs abruptly seized, and claimed that the dogs were being taken away to be slaughtered.

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  • November 14, 2006 7:04 PM

• Beijing Intensifies Dog Control – Shanghai Daily

  

  
  Stayed tuned ahead for Beijing’s war on dogs, and rabies, from Shanghai Daily:

  A campaign will begin on Thursday to check that Beijing’s citizens have licenses for their dogs, do not have more than one dog per household and are not illicitly operating pet businesses in China’s capital, local police have announced.

  On Wednesday afternoon, police made house calls in Beijing’s luxury villa areas to check on illegal dog keeping. They discovered six large, unlicensed dogs.

  The city will implement a “one dog” policy for each household in nine major management zones, aimed at fighting rabies which claimed 318 lives nationwide in September. [Full Text]

  - Also see BBC News’ Beijing dog policy sparks protest
  - And the Chinese story via Wenxuecity with many photos of a probably frist-time middle-class protest, over Beijing’s dog policy, in many years

  » Read more
  • November 12, 2006 12:56 PM

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