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China vs SARS: A good dog is a dead
dog
By Asia Times Online
Staff
HONG KONG - In Beijing's Fengtai district,
a family living in an apartment building in the Niwa
neighborhood suspected that its pet dog, a Pekingese,
had become infected with severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS). Upon suspecting their pet's infection,
a member of the family promptly threw the dog from the
family apartment's window, on the sixth floor of the
building. The small but tough dog did not die after its
fall on to the sidewalk below. When the family
discovered this, they dug a small grave for the animal
and buried it alive.
What is it that is driving
people to turn into brutal killers of the pets that, in
many cases, they had cherished having at their sides for
years? What is it that has caused many of China's pet
owners to kill their beloved pets without even a shred
of sympathy for the animals?
As SARS has spread
through China's cities and countryside this year, there
has been a marked change in people's demeanor. The
source of this change is unclear. What's most
frightening is reports in local media of how in the
blink of an eye spurious rumors or speculation have
spread to every corner of the gigantic country - and how
many people believe such things. A couple examples of
this include the skyrocketing demand for vinegar to boil
for disinfecting homes through fumigation and the
far-fetched notion that drinking mung-bean juice could
make one impervious to SARS. There's been no rhyme or
reason to these episodes. Now that scientists are saying
that the virus originally came from animals, a tragic
fate has befallen the dogs of China. Scientists have yet
to arrive at any final conclusions, but the masses
appear to have determined that whatever animals they see
on the street are as good as infected with the virus and
that they therefore must be eliminated.
Every
local government is pushing extreme vigilance in the
face of SARS, summed up by the expression "ying shi
er sheng" (things will appear as the trend develops), and it
seems that one after another, the people of various
cities and counties are interpreting this
government-issued call in their own ways.
Snapshot one
A group of Beijing
children not much older than 10 chase a dog that had
been hiding in a small nook. The dog had been abandoned
by its owner. Some of the children are carrying poles as
they chase from behind. Others are pelting the dog with
stones as it runs. The group of children are laughing in
a surprisingly callous manner. A boy in the group says
that beating dogs is part of the fight against
SARS.
Snapshot two
Nanjing's
"Dog-Beating Corps" has come to the home of an elderly
resident as a result of complaints from his neighbors.
The man's neighbors informed the group that the man's
trash had a "bad odor" to it. Hence, "with the blessings
of the local police", the Dog-Beating Corps forces its
way into the elderly man's home and bludgeons the eight
stray dogs that the man has been caring for until they
are all dead and then clean up the mess. The vast
majority of the man's neighbors welcome this action and
some even praise it.
Snapshot
three
There are some panicking Beijing dog owners
who fear that their pets are infected with SARS, but are
unwilling to force their dogs on to the street where
they will be beaten to death. Hence they go to pet
clinics in hopes of having a veterinarian euthanize
their dogs.
Snapshot four
Ever since
the first SARS patient was discovered in the city of
Hangzhou, a large number of people have been abandoning
their pets on the street in order to avoid being
infected. There's also a good many people who are
calling the municipal government and asking that the
authorities collect their pets from their homes and take
care of them.
These saddening snapshots
effectively depict the confusion of SARS and how, once
again, people who are desperate for answers are shooting
arrows in the dark, hoping that their efforts will have
some effect on a situation that is out of any
individual's control.
In this nationwide attack
on dogs, there has been a constant war of words between
the two camps divided by the issue. The advocates are
people such as those in the Dog-Beating Corps in
Nanjing, where local media have fueled the attack with
bloody pictures reminiscent of the Nanjing Massacre
committed by the Japanese army in the then-capital of
China during World War II. Opponents are typically
animal-rights activists who are, not surprisingly,
outraged. These opponents offer the argument that it is
not known for sure whether animals can transmit SARS to
humans, but it is indisputable that humans are capable
of transmitting the virus to other humans. If it's
acceptable to kill dogs now, then surely it is
acceptable to kill humans, they argue.
Non-participating supporters of the attacks on
dogs are quite numerous. The dominant view among them
seems to be, "We should value the lives of dogs. At the
same time, we should respect human life. There is no way
that one can argue that a human's life has the same
value as a dog's. SARS has already mutated, so we
shouldn't underestimate the potential it has to wreak
further havoc. So it's necessary to work constantly to
protect human life."
The wave of violence
against dogs in Nanjing leaves one with a deeply
troubling feeling. Despite the lack of any conclusive
scientific evidence that proves that SARS can be spread
to humans by animals, many people are deciding to
slaughter the city's dogs out of suspicion, treating
dogs as if they are not living creatures. At the present
stage in China's SARS episode, the entire country from
top to bottom should focus its energy, its time and its
human, financial and material resources on learning
practical and verifiable information from its
experiences in the anti-SARS battle. There is no reason
for the country to get tangled up in problems that don't
exist.
Nanjing's and Beijing's dogs and puppies
have already been pretty much killed off wholesale.
Meanwhile, other cities in China are continuing to kill
dogs in what appears to be an unnecessary front in the
"People's War" against SARS.
Translated by
Christopher Horton.
(Copyright 2003 Asia
Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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