Japan

Did anyone see the Sunday Express article on the thousands of dogs & cats killed in Japan every year? I'm sure it said there were 200,000 of them PTS every year.

It was absolutely heartbreaking, they have a real problem over there. I was so upset reading it - even more so when you learned that some pet shops are open until 3am in the morning and people make impulse purchases when drunk etc, then abandon them later

How awful

Is there a link to that article online please? It is absolutely dreadful that pet stores can be open so late and just sell puppies and kittens to drunk people who "just fancy them at the time".

i would love to see the link! Please do post as i have friends in Japan who own dogs. It is really dreadful pet stores are open that late, but i'm guessing its only in the big cities.

Whats the most popular breed over there? One with japanese blood history (such as the akita or shiba inu) or do you think now its breeds which come from outside the country and have been imported/mixed.
Please do post!

i have done some researching and came across this short article -

It's a dog's life for a stray mutt in any country, but in Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more likely to be put down than to find a new home.

While in some other industrialized countries the idea of "saving" a pet from a shelter is well-established, in Japan animal welfare activists say strays often fall foul of an attitude that prizes puppies and pedigrees as status symbols.

"In Britain, the public go to animal welfare shelters to adopt an animal and save a life. The mindset in Japan is still 'if you want a pet, go to a pet shop'," said Briar Simpson, a New Zealander who works for Japan's animal shelter ARK, via e-mail.

In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity.

In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE says.

In rural areas such as Tokushima Prefecture, on the southwestern island of Shikoku, the situation is even worse. In 2008 alone, more than 88 percent of abandoned dogs at the Tokushima Animal Welfare Center were put down.

http://www.infosquares.com/readingco...hension31.html

88%... thats pretty shocking. Kind of sad

Wow I'm surprised to hear that - very sad

My error, it was the Sunday Mirror, after doing some surfing found the article. I warn you it isn't nice reading and the photos are upsetting, but as some have asked to see it here it is:-

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-23506961/

It seems they are lots of puppy farms out there jumping on the bandwagon and what they don't sell ends up being PTS. I cried when I read the article, especially seeing all those bodies piled up, just breaks your heart as an animal lover.

From the above article:


Kind? Words fail me.

It is a very sad situation, and we must remember not to condemn the operator of this machine, it is not HIS fault that these dogs were bred, or sold, or abandoned.........

thanks for posting the article... thats so sad In this day and age things like this should be abolished. Such a shame...

It just makes me think of that pair of dogs which got caught up in the terrible tsunami/earthquake and survived. I wonder what happened to them?