Feral cats in China
March 8th, 2008
There’s no talk of “catch-neuter-release” over there!
Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.
[...]
The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help clear the streets of them.
The methods may be harsh. But the result is that feral cats who would otherwise starve in the streets and die miserable deaths are put out of their misery quickly. As well, a major disease vector is eliminated, and the damage that feral cats cause to the local environment, in terms of loss of endangered birds and small mammals, is reduced.
For all those who say it is impossible to round up all feral cats, and that TNR is the only viable alternative… I bet China will do a pretty darn good job. Reminds me of how Thailand eliminated the drug problem in 6 months… the methods were brutal, but it was enormously effective for almost a decade.
Then again, China may not want to advertise about the cat disease vector so glibly… that only causes people to dump the cats.
But then again, we are talking about SARS and other weird diseases. And, in my time in Asia, I did tend to notice how some pet craze would sweep a country. Heck, in Vietnam there is now a hamster craze!
Vietnam has launched a crackdown on hamsters, a wildly popular pet here in the current lunar Year of the Rat, fearing an influx of the foreign-bred rodent furballs could spread disease and destroy crops.
From next Monday, anyone possessing or trading hamsters faces stiff fines of up to 30 million dong (1,875 dollars), the Vietnam News daily reported, citing a new agriculture ministry directive to enforce a ban imposed last month.
Yowzers, $1,875 for possessing a hamster!
Mao once saw pets as pure bourgeois decadence. He had a point: people often spend far more on stray animals than on stray people.
Related posts: Trap, neuter, release and the Iowa cats, "Animal rights" versus biodiversity, Feral cats destroying Iowa
2 Comments Add your own
1. Shawn | March 22nd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
“I bet China will do a pretty darn good job.”
Yeah, until the Olympics are over. And then guess what will happen? Guess! I dare ya!
Feral cat explosion! That’s what.
Even if they only miss a few dozen cats, which they most certainly will, the population will immediately start to recover the moment they ease off on the mass killing. And in a couple year they’ll be right back where they started!
You need to accept it man. The cats are here to stay. Kill as many as you like. For every one you kill there are thousands more being born.
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