First, I also don’t like it when animals are treated like that.
But Second, I also don’t like PETA. They are fanatics. With their campaingn comparing the food industry with the Holocaust they realy made me angry.
Third, Mr. McCartney prooved that musicians sometimes just should keep their mouth shut when they are not on stage (as well as football players).
Not going to China because he saw this video is so stupid (and besides with his apartheid comparision he follows Peat’s argument that treating animals and humans bad is the same and is insulting a lot of people in South Africa).

November 29, 2005 @ 8:28 am | Comment

Similar video showing foxs and raccoons being skinned alive was released in Taiwan early this year. The video was then posted on many mainland websites and provoked angry denunciations from the online population. Two month later, the New Beijing Times (xin jing bao) followed this story up with more shocking photos and interviews with traders and officials. The public was, of course, horrified. The local government later banned the practice. Early this month the government announced it’s working on an animal welfare law.

So what would Mr.McCartney’s litte public statement achieve?
1) His anti-China remark almost certainly ensures the video won’t be seen by the Chinese public
2) Because of 1), local government won’t face public pressure to shutdown the market,
3) He won’t do any goods to the animals in China because the government’s already working on an animal welfare law anyway.

November 29, 2005 @ 10:14 am | Comment

On the other hand, it might be helpful to have the point emphasized that such conduct is against international norms, considering that China wishes to be a major player on the international stage. That’s the trade-off, you know?

November 29, 2005 @ 11:18 am | Comment

I think that if I was Paul McCartney (I’m not, bythe way, although I did just get paid!), I would have felt pretty angry at the BBC for setting me up in this way. I think if he hadn’t been buttonholed and if his initial and obviously understandable reaction hadn’t been recorded, he might not have responded in such an extreme fashion.

I’m only guessing, and I hope I don’t sound like an apologist for animal cruelty, but I just felt really uncomfortable about the way the whole thing was carried out.

November 29, 2005 @ 11:41 am | Comment

I agree with Shulan.

In my opinion PETA is nothing more than a terrorist organization. They rank right up there with ELF (Earth Liberation Front).

November 29, 2005 @ 11:51 am | Comment

I’m not a PETA fan, but are you really equating them, with, I dunno, suicide bombers? Cause I think that’s a bit overstated.

November 29, 2005 @ 3:45 pm | Comment

Terrorism? Hilarious. They’re more like a graffiti crew than anything else. ELF on the other hand likes to blow stuff up when no one’s around. That’s a bit different and may warrant jail time. But terrorist? Let’s save that label for those who actually try to kill people.

November 29, 2005 @ 4:47 pm | Comment

On the other hand, it might be helpful to have the point emphasized that such conduct is against international norms, considering that China wishes to be a major player on the international stage. That’s the trade-off, you know?
*****
I’m sure the Chinese government knows well the ‘international norms’, considering the troubles animal cruelty had brought to Chinese fur trade during the last few years.

PETA had handled this affair in the most unconstructive manner. It’s not like the problem couldn’t be solved within the Chinese system. Case like this happened before, and positive outcome was achieved after media coverage and public outcry. But instead of showing this to the Chinese (either in mainland or in H.K./Taiwan), they chose to ignore the Chinese public and show them to the Brits.

November 29, 2005 @ 4:57 pm | Comment

How do you expect animal rights in China when there’s no human rights? I suspect the majority of society would just shrug it off…mamu, mamu.

Re: Guangzhou and animal cruelty…the two do seem to go together. Although dog eating has been known further north, I’ve never heard of cat being on the menu in any Chinese cuisine other than Cantonese. Unfortunately, consumption of shark fins also seem to have really taken off for the nouveau riche in recent years, even up north. Why can’t they learn the good things about Hong Kong and leave the bad behind? The world’s shark population really can’t sustain all this eating by an entire nation of Chinese.

November 29, 2005 @ 5:20 pm | Comment

Paul McCartney is a God. I think some of the comments here make the mistake of forgetting this. He is one who is referred to among the long-haired angels with breastplates of iron in the book of Revelation Chapter 9 (#9… #9… #9…)
When he blessed my worthless hometown of Loserpeg in 1994 I took it as the Second Coming. When he announced the evil of consuming meat, I became a disciple. (This lasted for a couple of years until I moved to Greece where goats are killed by being thrown off buildings by the local priest and vegetarians are unheard of). Hell, I even moved to Liverpool for a period just to be closer to his spirit, and my brother hopped over his fence at his farm in Sussex . Although I’m a lapse vegetarian now and find Sir Paul’s comparison of the meat industry as akin to the Holocaust, I will not hear anything against him whose boots none is fit to tie. Moral- If Paul says something, you should first sit down and seriously consider his point.

November 29, 2005 @ 5:40 pm | Comment

USA is the cruelest in the world, in terms of treating animals, because the average amount of meat consumed by an american each year is 132 pounds, more than two folds of the chinese figure, which is
54 pounds. Period.

November 29, 2005 @ 9:51 pm | Comment

Yeah, but they don’t TORTURE animals, let alone domestic pets to death and throw them off buses laughing like sadistic members of SS einsatzgruppen. They’re a tad more civilised, wouldn’t you say?

November 29, 2005 @ 10:59 pm | Comment

But meme, the Chinese population is bigger, so maybe total meat consumption for the entire nation is the same!
And then… where do we go from here?

November 29, 2005 @ 11:00 pm | Comment

Well, some American farmers do enjoy playing with chicken:
http://www.peta.org/feat/moorefield/
“…workers were stomping on live birds, tearing their heads off, spitting tobacco in their eyes, and spray-painting their faces.”

November 29, 2005 @ 11:56 pm | Comment

Wuliao, oh yes, there are some horrific accounts of factory farming in the US (I had to research it once). Also a lot of progress – big chains like trader joes have pledged to only sell “cruelty free” eggs (I’m forgetting the exact terminology, please forgive me). I am a meat eater myself, and I’ve had a lot of struggle about that – the only conclusion I can come to right now is that reducing cruelty whenever possible is a good thing, and that unnecessary cruelty needs to be exposed and not tolerated.

I think what gives people particular pause about the situation in China is the tradition of eating some forms of wildlife – which as we can see re: SARS and civet cats, can have some really bad consequences – and the use/abuse of what we in the West consider companion animals, e.g., cats and dogs. Okay, before you come down on me like a ton of bricks, I realize this is one of those areas where cultural relativism comes into play, but…I’m sorry, I’m sitting here with my cat on my lap, she’s been with me for more than 16 years, and I just can’t tolerate the notion of throwing cats and dogs off of buildings for their fur or for any reason whatsoever.

It was like, have any of you been following the story of the abused cheetah cubs in Ethiopia? This restaurant owner had them, he’d bought them from poachers. One had an injured eye (or was blinded); they were half-starved and beaten for the amusement of restaurant patrons, and US troops – in one instance of foreign intervention of which I can approve – took them to the capital and they are now in the care of a veterinarian. Cheetahs are endangered, they are magnificent, wonderful, intelligent creatures, and though I hate to see arbitrary cruelty to chickens, what can I say? I value the cheetahs more…

November 30, 2005 @ 12:44 am | Comment

Wuliao, I think the activity you just quoted from the PETA site would be considered horrible and unnecessarily cruel by most people who raise livestock, at least in the American midwest where I grew up (most of my relatives were farmers).

Although I am worried about some of the techniques used by the new massive-scale livestock farms, I think things like stomping animals to death or spraying chemicals in their eyes would be considered well outside the accepted industrial norm.

November 30, 2005 @ 12:46 am | Comment

Hey, Shanghai, I may be in your neck of the woods next spring – perhaps an opportunity for us to finally compare New Wave notes?

November 30, 2005 @ 1:01 am | Comment

and maybe we could get richard to meet too…a mini-TPD convention!

November 30, 2005 @ 1:06 am | Comment

Lisa, I’d love to. Keep us posted.

Leave it to Gordon to equate PETA with terrorists. Last i heard, very few innocents have been killed or maimed by PETA.

Martyn, thanks for this deeply upsetting post. After seeing the CNN story on the Guangzhou animal market, I’m not in the least surprised.

November 30, 2005 @ 3:01 am | Comment

If the west dosn’t like it, then it should stop buying it. A lot of the clothes made with this fur isn’tt for domestic use, its for export.

Sean John and Tommy Hilfiger (allegidly) use this fur as trimmings for ski jackets and gloves.

Rather than having a go at China, which isn’t likely to Change, aim you anger at the WESTERN companies that are buying it.

November 30, 2005 @ 5:54 am | Comment

Richard

Peta might not be terrorists in the bombing sence, but they are extremists and they are dangerous.

A few years ago in the US they used rape fantasies as an avertising technique in the US. This was an insult to women.

In Britain they targeted young girls outside schools with radical vegan material that told them that dairy products would make them fat, spotty, and would give them flatulance.

They also target young girls and tell them that vegitarianism and veganism will keep them thin and that meat will make them fat, then they try to convert them to a meat and dairy free diet but do not tell them how to change their diet in order to stay healthy.

They purposefully targeted one of society’s most image consious emotionally vulnerable and groups, which is inexcusable in my book.

If a peta activist came up to one of my children like that, I’d show them what cruelty looks like.

November 30, 2005 @ 6:03 am | Comment

Good point,ACB. Has anyone else seen the video? It is more than horrific- it’s truly shattering. I’m as cynical as the next guy, but seeing these pathetic creatures – one cat licking another in their cage while being terrorised by a goon, a dog with its collar stillon piteously looking at the horror all around. This is not about the trade- it’s about unremitting evil. To quote Lincoln, if THIS isn’t wrong, nothing is wrong. God, and I’ve been offered a promotion at work to stay in this country… I can’t even talk to my girlfriend anymore about her country because it makes me sick

November 30, 2005 @ 6:06 am | Comment

I think you missed a comment made by a Chinese that none of these furs are consumed in China. They go to America. The fur trade in the US is booming, and where do you think they get their animals from? Fur cannot be stained, so animals are killed by electrocution and other means that don’t leave scars. THAT is the nature of the bloody trade everywhere you go.

I’m vegetarian and am against the using of furs, but in terms of animal cruelty, where do you think your meat and your veal comes from? Watch some tapes of abbatoirs in any country, even civilised America’s abbatoirs, and be prepared to realise that the world as a whole treats animals shabbily. PETA may resort to extreme means, but that’s because people seem to enjoy being in denial and adopt a non-questioning attitude where animals are concerned. It makes them feel better about themselves to call animal activists irrational than to see themselves as a supporter of a painful and cruel trade as a meat-eater. It’s called self-denial.

November 30, 2005 @ 10:46 am | Comment

(sorry, above comment was directed at ACB’s comment about PETA)

November 30, 2005 @ 10:48 am | Comment

Hey, Shanghai, I may be in your neck of the woods next spring – perhaps an opportunity for us to finally compare New Wave notes?

O’Lisa, that’s great!! But I don’t know about Richard joining us.

I’m worried you will be angry if Richard shows up again in his baby seal boots, buffalo calfskin jacket, and spotted owl hat, and then starts ordering shark fin soup. Sheesh!

Oh, did I forgot to mention his narwhal tusk walking stick?

🙂

November 30, 2005 @ 12:42 pm | Comment

Hee!!!

November 30, 2005 @ 4:06 pm | Comment

Kevin , so there are more chinese in the world they are not allowed to consumed as much as you american??? What a load of bullshit!!
I’ll have a few Shark fin soup this week! And some shark steaks which i can get for cheap from an american supermarket!
Animal cruelty happens in most countries so just bashing the Chinese for producing furs to sell to the West is to me racially motivated!!!

November 30, 2005 @ 8:31 pm | Comment

Who is Paul Mccartney anyway he has passed his sell by date so if who choose not to have a show in China so what??? What is the bloody big deal?? I do not condone animal cruelty but to use this isolated incident to bash the Chinese pissed me off!
By the way i have fur jacket by VErsace i wonderred where did the fur come from??
Don’t tel me McCartney doesn’t wear leather shoes/jackets!

November 30, 2005 @ 8:41 pm | Comment

Yeah, but I bet he doesn’t throw kittens off a roof…

😉

Look, no one is perfect, no one has completely clean hands here, but to react to such criticism by saying you’re going to go out and eat an extra endangered shark is, how to put it?

Well, kind of immature, frankly.

We all need to improve. The thing to do is start with egregious cruelty, stop that, and work from there.

November 30, 2005 @ 10:34 pm | Comment

I was simply pointing out that meme’s logic wasn’t quite so… logical.
Seems like someone’s in a bad mood today.

December 1, 2005 @ 2:57 am | Comment

Your logic doesn’t hold, Kevin. It’s like saying the Italians are more suicidal than the Finnish because more people suicides in Italy every year.

December 1, 2005 @ 3:36 am | Comment

The point is that these people are sadists whatever country it is, absolute barbarians with no compassion whatsoever. Arguing about why there is a fur trade and who buys the fur is not the whole story. Why do they have to torture the animals and why should we excuse it in any way and not be completely outraged? There are no excuses whatsoever!

December 1, 2005 @ 8:51 am | Comment

I don’t care for PETA either, but that misses the point. The video and treatment of the animals are the point.

In the US you want to be careful when shopping at Burlington Coat Factories. Read the label and brush up on your foreign languages. When you read the label, you will frequently find out that that nice fur collar is made of dog — the label spells “dog” out in French.

Also, in the US you will find at shops like Hallmark, statues of cute furry dogs and cats that are curled up and covered in real “rabbit” fur. They have done testing on the fur, and it is cat or dog. The labels all say rabbit. This is frequently where the skinned cat hides go to.

(sorry we never got together before you left town Richard)

December 1, 2005 @ 6:06 pm | Comment

wuliao, i wasn’t making any point, and didn’t try to convey any logic.
i simply pointed out that the use of an “america-china” comparison based on average meat consumption per capita was only one of many ways of looking at this. Additionally, does the amount of meat consumed really have anything to do with throwing cats off roofs?
Changing the topic seems to be a common “defense” amongst certain commenters here.
An example: I might eat more vegetables than you. But if all of your vegetables were, for example, obtained thru forced child labor, would you really have the right to criticize me for eating more vegetables?

December 1, 2005 @ 6:32 pm | Comment

What Monica and Cathy said!

December 1, 2005 @ 7:30 pm | Comment

Before we go on any further about leather shoes, etc. let’s not forget that cows and pigs are being killed primarily for another reason, i.e. food production, so if we can also make use of other parts of their bodies, that’s simply avoiding waste. If the animal was going to be killed for food anyway, and it’s killed in a humane way, I have no problem with using its skin or other parts.

However, if an animal is killed in a cruel manner, or solely for trivial purposes (e.g. fashion), that seems needlessly cruel to me.

I also recognize it’s hard to draw the line on this issue. Are the tightly bound live crabs at the supermarket experiencing terrible pain? I don’t know.

But as Schtickyrice already pointed out above, this conversation is pretty much a non-starter in China. Because so many people here feel little care for other people (“mamu”), caring about a d@mn animal seems ridiculous to them, as ridiculous as trying to convince an American farmer that he’s mistreating his carrots.

Frankly, as long as “mamu” is so prevalent in Chinese society, I see little chance of changing people’s attitudes about animals. Hope I’m wrong.

December 2, 2005 @ 12:30 am | Comment

Great perspective Slim.

December 2, 2005 @ 8:32 am | Comment

The point is the way to stem this cruelty is to not buy fur, and not to declare you’re not going to perform in China.

Perhaps US fur and leather companies will insist on minimum standards of treatment for animals if consumers protested to those companies.

Simultaneously spurring the fur trade and condemning China at the same time will not improve the plight of animals in any way, and is in fact hypocritical.

December 2, 2005 @ 10:35 am | Comment

Kevin, I wasn’t defending meme’s logic, I merely pointed out your initial rebut doesn’t work.

Slim, it’s not about whether people care about animals or not. You can’t say Indians don’t care about cows. Yet take a look at the Indian leather trade:
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=skin-trade-ili
Indian have animal welfare laws, but don’t have the resources to enforce it. Chinese city like Beijing had considered enacting animal welfare law, but at the end decided against it because it’s just too hard to enforce. Remember, China isn’t even able to stop child trafficking.

As for cat/dog furs, I personally have little problem with them as long as it’s done humanely. People eat dogs anyway, and harvesting fur from feral cats put resources to good use.

December 2, 2005 @ 2:41 pm | Comment

These animal (pig, cow, lamb) you can eat. That animal (cat, dog, mouse) you can’t eat. This sound very arbitary if you look at bigger picture. Some people keep pigs and lambs as pet too. As they say one’s man meat is another’s poison. Who are to say which animal shouldn’t be eaten. Now animal cruety is another story. People should not treat all animal cruely period.
Having that, there are one type of animal that should be killed – endangered species. All the rest is up to your culture and taste.

December 2, 2005 @ 3:58 pm | Comment

Error correction –

Having that, there are one type of animal that shouldn’t be killed – endangered species

December 2, 2005 @ 4:00 pm | Comment

ME:

“PETA may resort to extreme means, but that’s because people seem to enjoy being in denial and adopt a non-questioning attitude where animals are concerned.”

There is no excuse whatsoever for PETA using RAPE FANTASIES as a promotional gimic.

If PETA were to compare the meat industry to the rape of Nanking, would you be happy, or maybe if it compared the number of animals salughtered in a slaughter house to the number of people killed in 9/11.

I have nothing against vegetarians, but what I do object to is some lowlife targeting vulnerable people in unethical ways as PETA is doing.

I take it that you are not aware that vegitarianism is often used as a cover for an anorexia and bulemia. Or that PETA are targting YOUNG GIRLS and telling them that meat will make them fat. Worse still, they are telling girls entring puberty to cut out both meat and dairy, which is very dangerous as girls need more iron, protein and calcium at that time of their lives in order to grow healthely but are rarely in te position of being able to modify thir diet to replace that which would be lost through the exclusion of meat and dairy.

Unless you are indeed a woman, you probalby could never understand the pressure felt by girls to conform to the idea weight, or exactly how vulnerable teenage girls are to emotional blackmail .

PETA make me sick, they bring shame on their cause.

December 3, 2005 @ 8:15 am | Comment

Amidst a lot of emotional appeals, some valid points have been made here:

1. Deliberate animal cruelty happens in Western slaughterhouses, too. This should not surprise anyone. Imagine if you had to slit chicken throats for eigth hours a day. That would desensitize anybody to an animal’s ability to feel pain. In our hunting culture, cruelty to animals is also found among ordinary people. I remember reading in the newspaper a horrific story about some frat boys who were prosecuted for punishing a kitten that had peed on the floor by cutting off its paws, dousing it with gasoline, hanging it from a tree and setting it on fire.

2. Cruelty to animals is not a “Chinese thing,” but it seems that even ordinary Chinese who themselves would never deliberately harm an animal don’t care if others do, whereas many Westerners are disgusted and outraged. The attitude among most Asians and some Westerners is, “Well, it’s only an animal.”

It is interesting that the two major religions that accord spiritual value to all livings, Buddhism and Hinduism, are Asian religions.

3. Showing videos of animal cruelty in China to Westerners is not helpful in changing the way animals are treated in China. I agree with that, but I think informing consumers of facts like those provided by Cathy can help stop such horrific killings.

December 3, 2005 @ 12:46 pm | Comment

Hi. First of all I am not here to bash China. To say ALL Chinese people condone the kinds of unspeakable things I saw in the video is insipid.
I think that the most disturbing aspect of what I saw is that those dogs and cats are domestic animals bred to be the companions and even protectors of humans. The corrals full of dogs were not fighting or attacking the people walking freely in thier pens to wrangle them for slaughter. There was a German shepard with his head poking out of a bag in one of the clips that was looking around inquisitively only to be cold-cocked in the face for no reason by a man. The dog did not react with anger, but winced and looked at the man in confusion, not knowing why it had just been hit.
No creature deserves to killed so mercilessly. You have to admit that the workers seemed a little on the sadistic side, and thats just not cool.
If these animals MUST be killed in the name of vanity for the fur industry then perhaps the farms should be educated in more proper slaughter methods. Actually, I think that was another thing that people found particularly inflamitory.. those animals weren’t being killed for food or for benefitting mankind in any way. They were being killed so that hordes of fat rich western women could impress other fat rich western women.
I personally would never wear fur. if I have to strap the pely of a dead animal around my body to gain socail status then I guess I won’t get very far in Beverly Hills. Hehe.

December 14, 2005 @ 2:35 pm | Comment

fucking china, what else is new? Is there really any surprise at how cruel the yellow nipper can be? This is what causes racism.

December 14, 2005 @ 6:37 pm | Comment

Ummm… the process may take place in China but the deal is signed in the west. If people didn’t get off on wearing fur there would be no need for any of this. I think greed can pretty much be blamed – that of european/american westerners who want to appear more elegant by wearing fur (who actually LIVE in a culture that does not look kindly on killing cats and dogs) and the acts of a few shady, callous, individuals who just happen to live in China where not even human life outside of the accepted regime is regarded with much importance by their own government.
It is a persons own choice if they want to wear fur or not.. but I think those who do might think twice if they had to watch that video for even two minutes. It was a nasty death for even someone you might hate to the core of your being, let alone something that looks at its future killer with a wagging tail.

December 14, 2005 @ 8:12 pm | Comment

Oh and pardon any misspellings and grammar mistakes please. = ) I guess that is why you should “preview” before “post”. Duh.

December 14, 2005 @ 8:16 pm | Comment

Its absolutley horrific, I support PETA 100%. These poor poor animals, the people who do this will be punished.

December 21, 2005 @ 12:58 pm | Comment

some interesting photos on the subject:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/sets/1652923/

December 29, 2005 @ 10:45 am | Comment

I feel that every animal has the right to live their life free of cruelty and abuse; after all, it is their world too. If we must kill animals for their body parts there is no reason why the slaughter cannot be done humanley. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about what I saw in this video. The cruelty is horrific and so unnecessary. No animal deserves to die this way and my hope is that the people who are responsible for this kind of treatment towards animals will be held accountable for their actions – or made to endure the same fate. In the end though, the bottom line is the fucking almighty dollar…

January 19, 2006 @ 5:25 pm | Comment

oh my god please help the helpless. i also can not think of anything else since seeing the slaughter video i pray and scream to god to stop this i am a sane senior whos been through a lot but this is the worst please how do we get through to the media and the people most adore and revere the dog and cat maybe take out an ad with pictures and facts and say whose dog or cat are you or your babies wearing today in your boots gloves coat collars.no one beleived me when a freind bought a dog statue with cat fur a few yeas ago just please tell me how to get info to public? senior lady in p a usa

February 5, 2006 @ 9:20 am | Comment

First of all, the argument that animals are killed for food therefore isnt it just the same is absurd and not a logically reasoned argument so im not wasting my bloody time going into it. FACT- the delight in the workers faces reveals a sadistic taste for suffering which in my opinion directly links them to any Nazi who humiliated and then killed a jew or the white supremacists who burned Jesse Washington alive in 1906. The point here is that theanimals are suffering intolerable cruelty and pain. The point is not that we are more intelligent or reasoned than a cat or dog, but that we all can suffer regardless of species. Those cats and dogs without doubt are sentient beings who are more capable of reasoning than permanantly vegetated humans. If I was to skin my fucking brother (who is vegetated) alive would it be acceptable. And while many other countries including Denmark and France have ridiculous animal rights records, China is completely lacking not only in animal rights but human rights. The country has some serious fucking problems and imnot so sure that the abuses inflicted upon the animals would prompt much more than a passing comment by the majority of Chinese people.

April 19, 2006 @ 7:56 pm | Comment

What is the necessity of killing an animal with an inhumane method.

All we need is its flesh, fur or say some other useful stuff. With so much technical advancement, why can not we trace out a method which makes this whole killing process simple, less time consuming, inflicting less pain.

Let’s not discuss this anymore but make certain rules to be adhered by everyone across the globe, as we can not rule out use of animals in our daily life ( being a veggie or non- veggie does not mean , we use or do not use animals).

May 5, 2006 @ 11:07 pm | Comment

This barbaric and disgusting treatment of animals should be stopped immediately.
The world should stop buying fur from these yellow low-lifes.
PETA is right about them.Long live PETA.
Buy NOTHING from China, land of the obscene.

May 30, 2006 @ 5:44 am | Comment

The chinese race is the lowest form of life on this planet.Their inhumane treatment of animals simply illustrates this.
The West should turn it’s back on these scum and refuse to buy anything sold by these vermin.
I pray to God that a plague descend on these yellow bastards and wipe the lot of them off the face of the planet.

June 5, 2006 @ 6:12 am | Comment

I agree with Sir Paul. Why go entertain people who seem to get a kick out of Golden Retriever Rugs? Who needs music when you can just go beat the live out of some defense-less aniaml.Im sufe ALL Chineese people are NOT like that, but still; if someone walked up and showed you that video out of the blue…how would YOU respond…not calmly I assure you.Let’s be real.HE acted how any of us would have acted, if not better. As for Peta….Fanatical? At least their getting something done.What legislation have YOU helped pass to help ease the suffering of animals lately? There’s no reason to put down anyone that’s promoting animal welfare, unless they themselves are causing harm to living creatures.As far as I know PETA has yet to blow anybody up, or demand living sacrifices so cut them a break people.We all care about other living creature, we just all show it differently.

July 15, 2006 @ 4:49 am | Comment

Why can’t people have some COMPASSION FOR ANIMALS and stop eating meat and wearing fur? It is not hard to be vegetarian. It digusts me how most people eat meat and do not care about the animals raised for food who suffer terribly. Could they live much worse lives?

Animals are tortured in both the West and Asia.

Abuse of animals is so bad at slaughterhouses you need an animal welfare inspector to be present at all times to ensure this does not happen.

I am angry at people who oppose animal rights groups trying to stop the great pain animals suffer because of people. At least the animal rights group care unlike those people who oppose them!

July 26, 2006 @ 7:23 pm | Comment

It makes me sick how self-righteous some vegetarians and animal rights supporters are. You think the buck stops because you decide not to put that ground beef in your cart at the supermarket? You’ve washed your hands of all animal cruelty, because an animal’s meat hasn’t found its way into your stomach like your physiology would want? No person who cares deeply for animals can be anything but a contradiction if they live normal, modern lives. While you are busy chastising people who still eat meat, does it pang on your conscience that the lifestyle you lead still contributes to the unfortunate extermination of many animals? Do you use electricity? Do you live in a suburb? Do you drive a car? Do you own things made of wood, metal? Do you produce garbage? Everything normal about your life contributes to the ever-decreasing amount of Earth that can be shared with wildlife. Perhaps 20 years ago the site of your home might have been the habitat of an endangered species? The guilt-free produce you consume comes from slash-and-burn farms or farms that use exorbitant pesticides and fertilizers that cause immense damage to ecosystems? That the amount of woodlands has been exponentially decreasing all over the world to feed insatiable demands? You have no right to be indignant. Senseless cruelty is offensive to all with a rightly-tuned conscience, and its occurance is tragic, yet while the evils of eating cows, pigs and chickens, whose populations approach that of humans, have many vocal crusaders, the plight of species’ on their way to eternal extinction goes unsung because their cause is more difficult to support than making an adjustment to your palate.

And to those who sympathise with the sadists causing most inhumane deaths to animals, grow up. The blame rests with Western consumers? Surely that’s it. The fact that so far, nobody has produced any links or evidence that suggests Western clothiers are buying the majority of the furs from animals brutally killed in urban China. Ignoring that fact, certainly it’s the buyer of a pair of gloves who should be ashamed. Not the store for selling it. Not the outlet who provides the store the goods. Not the factory for making the goods out of sadistically-wrought furs. Not the suppliers for paying street scum for their day’s fun of snuffing the life out of animals. Own up; the blame rests with everyone involved. That goes for the Chinese as well as those who profit from and consume the evil products. It’s horribly shameful and irresponsible to hold anybody but those who actually committed the acts fully accountable for them; would you suggest that its the Jews’ fault for causing the Holocaust by lighting the manora and eating unleavened bread? That is ridiculous, of course not. I am at least relieved that it is common vermin being made into products rather than endangered otters, rodents, etc.

A final thing to address, is that there seems to be woefully misplaced rage in this thread. There are people like Sir Paul whose distaste drive them to make idiotic generalisations. Videos such as this are not indictive of a nation of more than a billion. You’ll note that barbarism happens even in America; and every place on earth. Racism caused by disgusting, evil people is misplaced hatred. Second of all, while I hold compassion for pets, it seems like when a few of them are treated cruelly, it gets much more attention than when anything else is treated equally as poor. People spend tons of money and energy raising and keeping their pets. If even a fraction of this potential that’s spent on 2 ecologically worthless species, and given back to the downhill struggle to preserve endangered species, much more progress would be made. Instead we are much more concerned about our pets. Never mind they are overpopulated nuisance when not under the control of responsible owners. The animals shown in the video may well have been vermin who cause problems in the community. The people’s economic livelyhood might depend on harvesting these animals. The authorities’ resources are already stretched thin trying to protect human rights. An excuse for the barbarism? No, but their presence will not in any way be missed, unlike when an endangered animal is left dead. We waste our moral outrage on the pointless animals of the city rather than seeing that more and more species of animals are being pushed to the point of no return. And, unlike most sensible people, PETA is fanatically devoted to the prevention of cruelty among towards most creatures including insects, their actions by definition label them as a terrorist orginization. While not using outright violence, their tactics are to use fear to further their agenda. As if they themselves aren’t responsible for cruelty; PETA murders animals too. Observe: http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Open your own eyes, or close your mouth. The time your righteousness approaches the height to talk down to others is never. Any human being living in a modern lifestyle is directly involved in causing suffering and permanent destruction of many animals and plants. Any human being living in a poorer lifestyle does not have the income to change the diet their natural bodies were designed around, and any human living at base level as fellow animals treat the animals no differently than the animals treat each other: a life of competition, pain, and cruelty. A sad life, to be sure, but ask me what the bird felt when you clean up the gift your cat has left on your porch. Life is a brutal, unrementing cycle, and it is fleeting for all. Even extinction is not something we should be shamed by, it happens and is a part of nature, with many mass-extinctions preceding us. But as you shrug off that endangered creature smeared on the asphalt on your way to Starbucks, and your mind is filled with vitriol at the Chinese and how some of their people treated some cats and dogs with utter depravity, realize you are a hopeless hypocrite and that nobody wants to hear your half-hearted cries.

August 4, 2006 @ 3:23 am | Comment

I am a proud Chinese, a Peta member and a proud vegan / anti-fur person and what offends me more than what my race does to animals is how westerners treat us. Think of the people you’re talking about when you’re dissing a whole race and culture.

August 10, 2006 @ 6:09 pm | Comment

I can’t believe some people actually defend the treatment of these animals. Even Chinese citizens in China voice their disapproval of the fur trade’s cruelty in China. Animal cruelty is wrong no matter where.

August 18, 2006 @ 4:33 pm | Comment

Such horrific cruelty to animals….dogs,cats, plus other animals, skinned, boiled,tortued alive..infront of the next victim……would you wish that on yourself? The import of St Bearnards dogs and other breeds to China, bred, bred, bred….in terrible conditions…such loveing gentle, loyal dogs or cats….how can we humans be so cruel. Many seem to take delight in this torture, no comprehension of the suffering of animals…so sad. Sir Paul and his daughter I think have been true friends of animals (as Linda was) Like many,I respect their integrity and bravery in denouncing such cruelty….are you brave????

August 31, 2006 @ 1:50 pm | Comment

M. Gandhi said: the moral progress of a nation is judged by how it treats its animals.

I see a lot of very defensive and racist comments here born out of anger.

It is clear that in China suffering to animals is common, and this suffering is caused and controlled by human beings in China.

September 30, 2006 @ 6:46 am | Comment