The Chinese Death Camp for Cats

To prepare for the Olympic Games, China has mounted an aggressive campaign to rid Beijing from ... cats!

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.

Cat owners, terrified by the disease warning, are dumping their pets in the streets to be picked up by special collection teams.

Paranoia is so intense that six stray cats -including two pregnant females - were beaten to death with sticks by teachers at a Beijing kindergarten, who feared they might pass illnesses to the children.

China's leaders are convinced that animals pose a serious urban health risk and may have contributed to the outbreak of SARS - a deadly respiratory virus - in 2003.

But the crackdown on cats is seen by animal campaigners as just one of a number of extreme measures being taken by communist leaders to ensure that its capital appears clean, green and welcoming during the Olympics.

The cats are then taken to what animal activists are describing as "death camps" on the edge of Beijing: Link


Comments (35)

Honestly, how you think this is appropriate content for 'neatorama'?!

What about the title "The Chinese Death Camp for Cats" strikes you as 'neat' ?!

Sorry, it just aggrivates me to come to a site that is supposed to be full of fun and interesting things and just run soemthing like "guess what they are killing tons of cats all the time!" >:(
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We are Cat Lovers, this is appropriate!

I hope Beijing has an infestation of rats! Like Exodus Let My People Go style! EPIC rat takeover will be their Karma.
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at least China is blatent about their lack of freedom, unlike some countries which sing about freedom while crushing their constitution and dancing on their people's civil rights

why is marijuana illegal?
why are hallucinogenic plants schedule I?
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i think this is the least of the many problems going on with china at the moment...mass executions, organ harvesting, occupying tibet, supporting the sudanese government, supporting the burmese government, supporting the north korean government, no free speech, restricted net access, no democracy, kidnapping of male children due to the 'one child' policy, mass abortion of female fetuses because of the same, extreme rural poverty, desertification (thousands of square km a year), pollution, rising inflation, eczema, headaches, split ends, bad cakes (it's true), earthquakes, monssons and flooding. they are, in my experience, unceasingly optimistic, hospitable and friendly people. unless you're a cat.
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death camps? they mean happy camps! where they will receive 3 square meals a day, professional medical attention and participate in daily activities! don't worry, they'll have fun! just don't tell PETA.
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Something that disturbers me about the article that this is liked to, is that if they are truly worried about disease from the cats, then why use meat from the cats as food?

(Look directly under the first photo for "Doomed: Terrified cats crammed tightly into cages are hauled off to a meat market in Guangzhou")
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just a guy: not everything is perfect. Neatorama is not a happy-go-lucky-ignore-everything-but-fun-stuff sight. I believe it is dedicated to encouraging thought with interesting, neat, AND controversial postings.
avraamov: this is a problem because of they're willingness to show what they are doing to these animals. what people do to animals, they most certainly will do to people. It is a sign to be taken seriously of what is to come and a sign to further investigate those things you listed. Except for exzema, headaches and split ends. If you're going to be sarcastic, make it make sense.
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I'm guessing they're gonna skin those poor animals alive and sell their fur as minks or something. Such an unbelievebly cruel country.
And I'm glad I saw this on Neatorama.
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As far as I can tell, people don't get diseases from cats, but people *do* get diseases from rodents... eek! Maybe they could find lizards to eat the mice?

"""
SKINNER: Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
LISA: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
SKINNER: No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
LISA: But aren't the snakes even worse?
SKINNER: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
LISA: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
SKINNER: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
"""
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Toxoplasmosis can be transmitted from cats to humans (that's why they say that pregnant women shouldn't clean litterboxes). But as far as things like SARS goes, I would suspect that the disease transmission was from eating the cats... not just being around them.
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Maybe it's a conspiracy by the government to decrease the population since they might get a rodent infestation and the people will contract diseases from the rodents
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@Joe- Seriously, dude- dont whine about how you cant have drugs. Yes it's stupid that it's illegal in the US but stop whining about your "limited rights" you freaking pansy... after a post about a country where people are being so mis-informed by their government that they are willing to kill their household pet because of unamed "disease". And that is pretty small on the scale of massive screwed up-ness in China. Not saying China is all bad, but they have had more than their share of human (and clearly animal as well) rights violations.
Pregnant women can get Toxoplasmosis from cat feces... however I cant figure out what other disease they are worried about. Maybe something from fleas?? It was the same way rats carried pandemics- it wasn't the rats, it was the fleas riding on their backs.
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jimbo: you're a sub-human. you actually think this is funny? idiot.

this country has a history of abuse towards animals. no surprise here. you can always judge the quality of people by the way they treat their animals. period.
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You know I seem to be reading a lot of ethnocentrism on this page. Seems everyone's content on bashing China, which is fine, but don't act like your country of origin is/was any better.

As an American, I can tell you we once did things atrocious like the Tuskeegee experiments, enslavement of blacks for 300 years, and just as bad, ignored genocide in several countries.

But let's take the time to demonize China for ridding Beijing of stray cats while our soldiers in Iraq throw puppies offa cliffs. (not to mention torture Iraqis).
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"i think this is the least of the many problems going on with china at the moment…mass executions, organ harvesting, occupying tibet, supporting the sudanese government, supporting the burmese government, supporting the north korean government, no free speech, restricted net access, no democracy, kidnapping of male children due to the ‘one child’ policy, mass abortion of female fetuses because of the same, extreme rural poverty, desertification (thousands of square km a year), pollution, rising inflation, eczema, headaches, split ends, bad cakes (it’s true), earthquakes, monssons and flooding. they are, in my experience, unceasingly optimistic, hospitable and friendly people. unless you’re a cat."

The U.S has mass executions too - it's called the death penalty. Occupying Tibet, like how the US occupies many territories? Supporting the Sudanese government - like how the US supported a corrupt Pakistani government, installed a corrupt Afghanistan government and Iraqi government? China didn't support North Korea in the latest conflict between N.K and The U.S. China wanted a non-nuclear arsenal in the Korean Peninsula. No free speech and no democracy - like American wire tapings, and the patriot act? How the president can veto anything he wants, even though congress, elected officials by the people voted in favor of a proposed bill? Extreme rural poverty, like New Orleans, Detroit, and the average American being 40 000 dollars in debt, and have no health care? Pollution - like how the US complains about their pollution but decides to do nothing about their own? Rising inflation - like the US is currently having rising inflation and falling house prices?

The reason why China is slowly becoming democratic is because they don't want to make the same dumb mistake Russia did - an overnight change of government. Why do you think Russia keeps talking about "the old days" being the better days? China is at a point of change, just like the West after the second world war.

Do you know why the cat problem happened? Because pets were banned for the longest time until recently. Everyone, with this new freedom, ran out and bought a pet, except they didn't know anything on how to raise or take care of their pets, and therefore got rid of them.
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DDT - The good 'ol days in russia did not exist, there was nothing in the stores during the "good 'ol days" no milk for the babies, no clothes, it's just the old people that were brainwashed by the government that are complaining and missing "the good 'ol days" because they got things for free. Russia is doing a lot better now in my opinion though there obviously are still some problems. Democracy is one of the hardest forms of governments to implement; there can never be a perfect democracy (or communism), and I think that the US has a pretty well run democracy, as well as it can be for such a large population. Anyone can make a life for themselves in American if they work hard, I have seen it happen with my own eyes growing up. I don't know if that is true in China, I've heard of a lot of suicides because kids can't get into college, or they do and parents can't pay for the college.

anyway I agree with avraamov, and iI wouldn't want to live anywhere else by America... except maybe Canadia
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@Paul M - 'thank you, you are the voice of reason. I was attempting to formulate a response similar to yours.'

having been to china, but not the u.s, i wouldn't necessarily be in position to reply. this all rather misses the point though doesn't it? that being stuff happens in china which is rather more pressing than cat welfare. 'the chinese are horrible to their animals' is another racist stereotype that regularly gets quoted as fact regardless of the truth or otherwise, and gets reinforced by stupid language like 'death camps' - the sort of unhelpful hyperbole regularly trotted out by the animal rights lobbies. by the way, according to the 'voice of reason', all the bad stuff perpetrated by the u.s apparently makes anything bad happening in china less bad. that's not reason, that's daft - especially since on closer examination the comparisons are mostly facile. and i stand by my comments on the cakes as well.

sorry to be so un-neat kids.
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@avraamov

I understand where youre coming from. Ive been to China myself (soon to return permanently) on numerous occasion but never been to the US either. The point i made above was a simple reply and one which i did not have the time to expand upon, though i perhaps should have.

At the heart of it, this is just another example of a constant systematic attack on China as far as i can see - not just the above but on many issues. China is not perfect - ill concede that. However at the end of the day it is still a second-world country and should be viewed in that light. The most vocal critics of Chinese policy are the US and the UK, countries who have their own skeletons in their respective closets. If China ran Guantanamo Bay, there would be international uproar.

Its very easy to demonise a nation by running stories as the one above ("Chinese death camp for cats"). Consider too the source - the Daily Mail - that bastion of intelligent liberalism.

I quote: "Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around." This is hack journalism at its worst. The reporter has , ill wager, never set foot in Beijing. Here in the west we could describe the conditions of Battery Hens in similar conditions - i dont see an uproar about this.

I quote again:
"Doomed: Terrified cats crammed tightly into cages are hauled off to a meat market in Guangzhou"
Again, hack journalism based on a photo.

The same people who turn in disgust at this thread do not see the irony of their own situations.

And another thing - you mentioned above:
"...mass abortion of female fetuses because of the same..."
If you have been to China you will see why this is necessary (the one-child policy) and also that most people agree with it, despite what the misguided western media have to say about it (herein they have their own agendas).
In a population explosion such as this, abortion is an unwelcome but necessary evil.

The Chinese economy is booming, and is in the best condition its been since the beginning of the 20th Century. For this reason i am optimistic, coupled with the fact that the populous is enjoying this new explosion of wealth and prosperity.

The West dosent know shit about China - basically, one cant comment unless one has been there, for all else is speculation.
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@ Paul M

fear not. long posts are good because they at least get stuff aired. i'm a bit of a fan of this site because of its scattergun approach - but the natural casualty with this kind of thing is the broader context within which things happen - often clicking on the link doesn't give you that either. neatorama do seem to be daily mail fans (there was a post from the mail about muslim immigrants, 'harems' and multiple benefits payments recently which was full of the joys of spring as you'd imagine) and this exposes problems with this kind of format. who are non-u.k residents to know where the mail's coming from? this issue will only grow as print gets smaller and online gets bigger - people simply don't have the time to dig through all the crap.

good luck with the move to china...
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@ avraamov

Thanks - im due to teach in the North East later this year, personally with a view to long term as my partner is from there herself. So im looking forward to it - it should be an experience.
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i think wat thar doin 2 cats is wrong my family taks in homlis cats and gets them fixed we dont kill thim so maby your over populated the worlds over populated with humins so shud we just start killing each other it not the cat falt it nacher it one of gods creasons just like us and carma coms arond u will sufer just like the cats did
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i would just like to say i agree with the comment what goes around comes around any anyone who tortures any animal or human will suffer the consiquinces.if the chinese did research on cats they would see how truly wonderful they are.google the healing power of cats.i suffef from deppression and can tell you that cats do wonders for deppresion not only has my blood pressure went down since i gotmy cat but my deppression is almost gone.
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