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Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

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[ 09 March 2008: Message edited by: The Wizard of Socialism ]

1) We don't pretend we're perfect but we have endearing features,

We're honest and we're always kind to God's four-footed creatures;

Dogs and horses, hamsters, rabbits, little furry things-

Lousy Europeans can't appreciate the pleasure that
a little kindness brings,

We're a nation of animal lovers.

2) When Greeks were being tortured then we always held our peace,

We used to like to spend our summer holidays in Greece;

Cats and ponies, budgies, moths and hairy caterpillars-

Lousy Europeans can't appreciate the pleasure that these little creatures give us,

We're a nation of animal lovers.

3) When there's hangings in South Africa we just avert our gaze,

But we're tender-hearted to a fault with alley cats and strays;

Remember how the nation nearly had a nervous spasm,

Breathlessly anticipating giant panda's pleasure in a cuddly orgasm

We're a nation of animal lovers.

4) When there's rioting in Brixton we're impressively impassive,

But be cruel to a horse and our reaction then is massive,

Guinea pigs and painted terrapins, tropical fishes-

Lesser races cannot understand that it would meet with all our wishes

IF THERE WERE NO HUMAN BEINGS.

(c)1968, Ewan MacColl Ltd.

[ 09 March 2008: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]

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Originally posted by Doug:

Cats caught in preparation for the Beijing Olympics

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[ 09 March 2008: Message edited by: Ken Burch ]

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Originally posted by Sineed:
The article says the Chinese government is fomenting the cat slaughter by associating cats with disease.

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[ 12 March 2008: Message edited by: scooter ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:
I think it's more important to focus on what we do to animals here than what they do to animals there.

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I see this type of point pop up in babble and I am always slightly bothered by it. Maybe you can clarify michelle.
I agree that people should work more within their own pocket of the world- cast the mote out of your own eye so to speak.
That people shouldn't go blundering around the world trying to 'solve' other nations problems or our perception of their problems.

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We do it here too. Our governments, at all levels, associate mice with disease. It's even worse for rats.

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Cat parasite may affect cultural traits in human populations.

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A common parasite found in cats may be affecting human behavior on a mass scale, according to a scientist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

snip

"In populations where this parasite is very common, mass personality modification could result in cultural change," said study author Kevin Lafferty, a USGS scientist at UC Santa Barbara. "The geographic variation in the latent prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii may explain a substantial proportion of human population differences we see in cultural aspects that relate to ego, money, material possessions, work and rules."

snip

Toxoplasma is associated with different, often opposite, behavioral changes in men and women, but both genders exhibit guilt proneness (a form of neuroticism). Lafferty's analysis found that countries with high Toxoplasma prevalence had a higher aggregate neuroticism score, and western nations with high prevalence also scored higher in the 'neurotic' cultural dimensions of 'masculine' sex roles and uncertainty avoidance.

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Originally posted by angrymonkey:
I see this type of point pop up in babble and I am always slightly bothered by it. Maybe you can clarify michelle.

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Originally posted by Michelle:

Sure, I'd be happy to. I think that it's somewhat xenophobic to focus on what horribly uncivilized things those foreigners way over there do to certain types of animals that we have a social taboo against eating here, while going home to a nice dinner of factory-farmed, tortured-to-death chicken, cow, or pig.

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Originally posted by Fidel:
They've eaten cats and dogs in Asia throughout centuries of imperialist rule. Asians have acquired a taste for the meat from those animals, even though they have chicken, beef and other things to eat today. Is it a crime?

"They say you come to Vietnam and understand a lot in a few minutes. The rest has got to be lived." - Tom Fowler, from The Quiet American

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