From AP via the New York Times:
A county in southwestern China has killed as many as 50,000 dogs in a government campaign ordered after three people died from rabies, official media reported Tuesday.
The five-day massacre in Yunnan province‘s Mouding county spared only military guard dogs and police canine units, the Shanghai Daily reported, citing local media.
Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten on the spot, the newspaper said. Other killing teams entered villages at night, creating noise to get dogs barking, then honing in and beating them to death. [Full Text]
See also buzzle.com’s dog cull by Guangdong government in 2003 and a protest letter addressed to Chinese embassies and spread over the Internet