The Daily Mail is reporting that China has started an aggressive plan to clean up Beijing before the Olympics by rounding up cats and putting them in "death camps" on the edges of the city.

The government has been warning citizens of the diseases that cats carry and have been ordering residents to help remove the cats from the street. Owners have been dumping their cats in the streets because of the warnings and special collection teams then pick up the abandoned cats.

Animal welfare groups are protesting the rounding up of cats and bringing them to the death camps, but they are afraid what authorities will do to them. Qi Yan, the founder of a cat lovers' group, negotiated the release of 30 cats from one of the compounds, but the cats were in such horrible conditions that half of them died after being released. Yan said, "These cats are being left to die. It is very inhumane. People don't want to keep cats in Beijing any more so they abandon them or send them to the compounds. When we went inside, we saw about 70 cats being kept in cages stacked one on top of the other in two tiny rooms. Disease spreads quickly among them and they die slowly in agony and distress. The government won't even do the cats the kindness of giving them lethal injections when they become sick. They just wait for them to die." She added, "We have tried to negotiate with the government to stop the round-ups and to introduce cut-price neutering services so that people can afford to keep their pets but they won't listen to us. They are not thinking about the cats. They just want to get results in the quickest way possible, by clearing as many cats from the city as they can."
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The round-up has been particularly intense in areas around Olympic venues and in streets and alleys surrounding five-star hotels where guests will stay during the summer games. Animal welfare groups estimate that tens of thousands of cats have been collected in the past few months.

Sources:

News for cats and dogs - Reports Of China Sending Cats To "Death Camps"

Daily Mail

4 Comments

Anne said:

That's right...leave it to the freakin chinese again to do this!!!!! Inhumane people. They make me sick!!!!! Bad enough the toys etc.... were tainted with. Now they are killing innocent cats? Grow some things between your legs & become REAL human beings!!!! As far as I am concerned I think the olympics should not be held in China. I don't think Americans should give them the privilege of going over there. As much as they tainted with the imports that came over here from them??? I don't think so. Do the humane thing & put those cats to sleep. Inject them humanely!!!

March 11, 2008 3:33 PM

Melody said:

This is insane, cruel, just plain WRONG! First there was killing of dogs right on the streets and in front of owners, etc. because of disease. And as Anne pointed out, the tainted food and toys! Now this! SPAY & NEUTER!!!! Control the population! However, it sounds like all that they are concerned with is "cleaning up the town" prior to the Olympics. Apparently, they haven't paid attention to the outrage of animal lovers all over the world and how they react to things like this. There will be boycotts! I have never even had the slightest want to go over there! This just cinched it! Those poor cats!

March 11, 2008 4:42 PM

Edna Taylor said:

What a horrid, wretched country. I saw that 24 Hour Fitness was offering a trip to the Olympics as a prize and even before I heard about this, I never wanted to go to China due to the fact that they skin cats and dogs ALIVE for their fur and ship it over here for places like Neimans and Burlington to put on their products as "fur trim". I just can't imagine anyone being as heartless and soul less as those people are.

March 11, 2008 5:11 PM

Donna said:

Definately a horrid wretched country!!!

March 12, 2008 11:06 AM

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