Ethics Newsline®

SHANGHAI
In a scenario that has sparked ethical debate between animal lovers and those who say that protecting humans must be the top priority, two Chinese cities are instituting a program of clubbing, electrocuting, or hanging dogs in an effort to control an outbreak of rabies.

The Times of London reported that the heavy-handed culling began last week in a county in southwestern Yunnan province. In one instance, officials approached a woman walking her small white dog, persuaded her to hand over the leash to her pet, and then beat the dog to death while she watched.

State media announced that the dog slaughter will now move to Jining, a city in an eastern province, according to the BBC, which reported that about half a million dogs could be killed.

The killings have been the target of unusually harsh criticism of local government actions. “Killing dogs blindly is not an effective, scientific way to curb rabies, because all warm-blooded animals can possibly carry the rabies virus,” He Yong, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Beijing, told China Daily.

Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Human and Animal Environmental Education Centre, told the Associated Press that the action was “completely insane…. What’s more, this really damages our national image and sets a really bad example to show how lazy and inconsiderate those local government officials are.”

Government officials insist that little else can be done because rabies has become a serious health problem in China, with more than 600 people dying from the disease last year.

The latest dog cull was sparked by an outbreak in which 16 people, including a child, died from rabies.