Red China Goes on a Dog Diet-Beijing gets an Olympian Trim

Tag : Sports Rug

Compare this horror with the work of Prof. Temple Grandin who has worked for decades to make American slaughterhouses morehumane.
Salon.com writer Ted Kerosote enjoyed his China ski trip, until hiswestern values confronted Chinese attitudes about the treatment ofanimals: An Olympic disgrace (March 28, 2008).
"On the day before we departed, at lunch, our translator stoodand called the mess hall to silence. "To thank our American friends for showing us so much about skiing," he announced, "ourchef will prepare a special dish tonight." He nodded to thehead coach, who waved his hand toward the door. Two of the Chineseskiers, standing at the ready, opened it with a flourish, and thewhite-aproned chef stepped inside, holding aloft my friend, thecollie, by his tail. He had been gutted from throat to groin."
And aside from the food issues, what could possibly be the reasonto skin animals alive for their fur? How hard would it be to killthem humanely first?
That cute kid's toy made with real fur may well have come from unspeakable cruelty on some Chinese furfactory: Dying for Fur: Recent Investigation Shows Cruelty at Chinese FurFarms , Humane Society of the United States.
"Imagine buying a child's toy or a piece of furniture, neverrealizing you are actually buying a product containing fur from aChinese fur farmfur that was once a terrified Arctic fox, held ina wire cage, abused, and eventually skinned alive. "
It has been illegal to import dog or cat fur to the United States since 2000, but we know how well that product inspection thing hasbeen going. For huggable plush animals, forego the natural materialand choose a teddy bear in glorious pain-free polyester!
Can you imagine a St. Bernard-skin rug as part of your home's decor? A Chinese entrepreneur thought onewould be an attractive addition to a bedroom arrangement headvertised in New Zealand , until outraged Kiwis forced him to present dog-free furnishings.
Another item in the Chinese parade of horrors is what passes forzoos, at least the one described by a Daily Mail reporter. Instead of providing educational exhibits of wildcreatures in their natural habitats, the Badaltearing Safari Parkis more akin to the brutal sport of the Roman Coliseum: Animals torn to pieces by lions in front of baying crowds: thespectator sport China DOESN'T want you to see , By Danny Penman, January 8, 2008.
"A man hoisted up the goat and nonchalantly threw it over awall into a pit full of hungry lions. The poor goat tried to runfor its life, but it didn't stand a chance. The lions quicklysurrounded it and started tearing at its flesh.
"Oohs" and "aahs" filled the air as thechildren watched the goat being ripped limb from limb. Some startedto clap silently with a look of wonder in their eyes. "
What a great start for youngsters hoping for a fulfilling career inthe People's Liberation Army!
For more dreadful details of third-world brutality to domesticatedcreatures, see my 2006 article Diversity Is... Cruelty to Animals .
All told, the decision to allow the Olympic Games in China islooking like a bonehead decision from the start. The hopefulspirits at the International Olympic Committee thought thatinviting the world over to the PRC for some sports would improve human rights there, but the groups who monitor such things say that theopposite has occurred.
In addition, some untoward incident that would cause a loss of faceduring China's moment in the sun could make them more belligerent.Many things could go badly wrong, for example because of China'swretched air pollution , which was supposed to be cleaned up but looks iffy at this point.
Hitler's 1936 Olympics certainly had its unpleasant authoritarian aspects, but at leasttrack star Jesse Owens didn't keel over because the air was too filthy to breathe.
If there is a human rights protest, concerning Tibet for example , the police reaction could get ugly. A terrorist incident isalways a possibility. Reporters fear the kind of press freedom theywere promised as part of the original Olympic deal will be as worthless as the other Beijing rubber checks.
Because Chinese officials are realizing they are not ready forprime time, expectations have been downsized. As a New York Sun headline recently observed,  New Goal for China: Uneventful Olympics . The trade-off will be more repression for less chance ofdisaster, so any enjoyment of athletic achievement will be purelyaccidental.
The illusion of cheerful sports excellence against a backdrop ofthe ancient Chinese culture can only happen if the media acquiesceto the gruel fed to it by the PRC government. Many newsorganizations will be happy with predigested stories of photogenicathletes' struggle to reach victory , but even a few curious reporters could make control-minded policevery nervous.
The Summer Olympic Games may show us more about Red China than wewant to know. An authoritarian government plus the worst aspects ofChinese culture viewed under even the cursory scrutiny of the wholeworld is a very unstable situation. Removing dog from the menus is the least of Red China's problems this August,but it is indicative of the bigger picture.
Brenda Walker ( email her) lives in Northern California and publishes two websites, LimitsToGrowth.org and ImmigrationsHumanCost.org . She hopes that skeet-surfing has finally been added to the Olympic events.