Chinese Protesting Dog Slayings

About 500 Chinese protested the government roundup and destruction of dogs in the government’s new one dog per family law. The protest will likely never be seen by the rest of the Chinese people due to strict government control on censorship of its media, and the Chinese are lucky they weren’t dealt with harshly by the police.

From the AP here:

Demonstrators angry at a crackdown on dogs staged a noisy protest in China’s capital on Saturday, decrying police killings of dogs and new limits on pet ownership.

About 200 police strung up tape to cordon off the roughly 500 demonstrators who waved signs and chanted near the entrance to the Beijing Zoo. Many clutched stuffed animals and wore buttons that said “Stop the indiscriminate killing.”

Police detained at least 18 demonstrators in nearby vans for several hours before releasing them, protesters said. Police declined comment.

Touching off the demonstration were new restrictions that limit households to one dog and ban larger breeds. Police in recent days have gone through city neighborhoods, seizing unregistered dogs and beating some of them to death, witnesses said.

So what do the Chinese do with the corpses of the dogs? They use the pelts for fur-lined coats and toys. Although the United States bans the import of dog fur items into the country, you should be sure to carefully look at the fur-lined toys from China and make sure it is faux, rabbit or some other recognizable animal.

A local resident looks at dog fur after authorities captured the stray dogs during a raid in Suining, southwest China’s Sichuan province, November 6, 2006.