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Public pet burials spark health concern
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-07 09:29
Cats and dogs are lucky to live with urban Chinese families, where they are
fed milk and bathed with shampoo. But, sadly, most of them do not end up with a
decent, or even proper, burial after death, which has aroused wide concern about
public health.
Once despised as a sign of bourgeois decadence in the nation several decades
ago, pets have been popular with Chinese urban dwellers over the past few years,
due to a dizzying rise in their living standards accompanied by a growing sense
of loneliness.
However, how to deal with dead pets has become an increasingly acute problem
in China. It is worthy of note that most of them in Chinese cities are buried in
the lawns of residential quarters, public parks, and some are even thrown in the
garbage or tossed into local rivers, said Lu Di, head of China's Association of
Pets Protection.
The government has so far no laws or regulations concerning the burial or
cremation of dead pets, Lu said.
In Jinan, a medium-sized city in the eastern Shandong Province,over 18,000
pets die from diseases or old-age every year.
"But almost all are buried casually," said Lin Zhenguo, president of the
Zhenmu Pets Hospital in Jinan.
Sitting in his office, Lin pointed to the Qianfo Shan (ThousandBuddha
Mountain) resort across the street, saying that some pet owners had just sneaked
in the park and buried their dead pets in the dark.
"Animal bodies carry many germs, some of which won't die out even when the
bodies decompose in the earth," Lin said, adding that casually disposed bodies
could pollute the underground water,on which nearly half of Jinan's 2 million
residents depend.
"The best way to handle bodies is cremation or deep burial," Lin said.
All over the country, only a couple of cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and
Chengdu have animal crematoriums, but few of them make good business.
A worker at Bo'ai Animal Crematorium, the only such institute in Beijing,
said they cremate only a dozen dead pets monthly in the city that has an
estimated 2 million pets, over 300 of which die every day.
Business has been slow since the animal crematorium started, said the owner,
who asked not to be identified.
"It is hopeless to try to recover our over 3 million yuan (371,300 US
dollars) investment," he added.
To cremate a dog costs 500 yuan (61 US dollars), or 800 yuan ifit is big, he
said, adding that a casket for the ashes costs 100 yuan to 1,300 yuan.
In recent years, businessmen have cashed in on the animal cemetery business,
targeting wealthy pet owners, only to find themselves called-off by the
government or in a dry market.
Most pets are treated well only when they are alive.
Lin said sometimes he has to keep and bury dead pets abandoned at the
hospital.
"If no action is taken, five years later when most pet dogs aregrowing into
their final years, China will face a severe problem of a pet necropolis," he
warned.
In China, the animal hygiene issue first came to the spotlight in 2003, when
civet cats, considered a delicacy in the southern province of Guangdong, were
linked with the deadly SARS outbreak.
At present, the fight against bird flu has required chicken and duck raisers
to vaccinate their poultry. Pet bird markets in Shanghai have been suspended.
Earlier this month, a source with the central government said it was drafting
laws to protect animals, a subject that is closely connected to food safety and
public health.
Experts have suggested the government fund pet crematoriums and burial sites
affordable to common pet owners.
"I have no problem spending 200 yuan to have my dog cremated orburied
properly," said Liu, a native of Jinan who took his sick dog to Lin's
hospital.
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