Dear Ambassador Surie,
Last fortnight, a county in south-western Yunnan province killed 50,000 dogs after three people died of rabies. Another province is planning a similar massacre. It is extremely disturbing and saddening to note that the global community has not raised its concerns on something as abysmal as this.
Dogs being walked were seized from their owners and beaten to death on the spot. Killing teams entered villages at night creating noise to get dogs barking, and then beat the animals to death. Owners were offered 5 yuan per animal to kill their own dogs before the teams were sent in.
This is undeniably a bloodcurdling and brutal response to the situation on the part of the Chinese Government. Health experts have pointed out the limitations of the healthcare infrastructure in China, where only 3 percent of dogs are vaccinated against rabies and more than 2,000 people die of the disease each year. Had the government been more proactive all this would have been avoided. The brutal and unjustifiable killing of innocent life, human or not, is unacceptable, and we the undersigned protest the Chinese Government's decision to slaughter dogs as a measure to curb increasing instances of rabies in the country.
As an Indian, I ask you, as my Ambassador, to urge the Chinese government to stop this government-sanctioned animal butchery in the name of public health, and more explicitly urge them to adopt an efficient rabies prevention program instead.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Courtesy: Various news sources
