Posted on October 3, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Owners who took their dogs to have their vocal chords cut out claimed they didn’t know what to do in the face of neighbours’ noise complaints.
When a stall opened at a market in Chengdu, China offering to perform debarking surgery on dogs, it didn’t take long for the authorities to act.
They demanded to see the practitioner’s veterinary license and – when he failed to prove his credentials – they closed down the operation.
But by then the floor was littered with vocal chords freshly cut out of anaesthetised dogs. Each dog which underwent the operation will never be able to use their voice to communicate ever again. Their natural barks will be replaced with an eerie wheezing sound.
Animals Asia Founder and CEO, Jill Robinson MBE said:
“Bodily mutilation such as this is clearly hugely damaging to a dog’s welfare and quality of life.
“It is well known that dogs are social animals and their bark is a key part of communication. They rely on their voice to communicate with both animals and people.
“Imagine the psychological trauma of a debarked dog trying to alert another dog or his guardian to danger and not being able to vocalise – it’s literally the stuff of nightmares. A key natural behaviour is completely destroyed.”
Yet amazingly, many of the customers who brought their companion animals to be debarked, didn’t realise how much damage they were doing.
Tragically, they just didn’t know what else to do.
In China, as in many countries such as the majority of the US, debarking can legally be carried out by a qualified vet in regulated conditions.
Animals Asia’s Cat and Dog Welfare Director Irene Feng said:
“While legal, debarking is not common in China and we have to congratulate the authorities for being quick to close down this unlicensed practitioner. But this case has highlighted that education is key – we can’t afford to be complacent about responsible companion animal ownership.”
Companion animal ownership has exploded in China in recent years, with 100 million animals – mainly dogs and cats – registered as of 2015.
While this change has fuelled an increase in animal welfare awareness and respect for non-human animals, it has also raised social challenges.
Irene said:
“Raising awareness about animal welfare and responsible companion animal ownership is absolutely vital in China right now. Responsible guardians must look to understand why a dog is barking, and train them not to bark in certain situations if necessary.
“The ‘quick-fix’ debarking surgery does nothing to address the root of the dogs’ vocalisation. Barking is a behaviour that comes out of many emotions, including frustration, excitement, boredom and angst.
“Understanding problem barking and looking at changing the dogs’ environment, our own dog management or seeking behavioural specialists can be difficult, but it is in the best interest of the dog, the guardian and the public.”
To help improve the lives of companion animals in China, Animals Asia produced an award-winning animated video, Animal Welfare Around Us, which has taught thousands of people how to give their beloved companion the best possible care.
In addition, the latest case of debarking has led the Hong Kong-based NGO’s Chengdu sanctuary – the China Bear Rescue Centre – to plan to introduce education on debarking surgery to their veterinary training programmes for Chinese vets.
The China Bear Rescue Centre currently provides vet training to around 80 vets in Chengdu to provide skills in anaesthesia, pain relief, animal handling and animal welfare. The charity aims to expand the programme significantly in 2018 to up to 300 vets.
By ensuring these trainee vets are well-informed about the inherent cruelty of debarking a dog for convenience, Animals Asia hopes to prevent the procedure being unnecessarily performed by Chengdu vets. The classes will also cover alternative management methods for excessive vocalisation
Animals Asia Senior Veterinarian Emily Drayton said:
“The risks of performing this procedure are alarming. There is a massive risk of infection due to unsanitary and non-sterile conditions, while secondary infection can lead to other complications like fistulas, bleeding, aspiration, and tissue necrosis. Long-term effects including narrowing of the airway, chronic coughing and regurgitation.”
“All vets need to understand the reality of what this operation involves and we will ensure that those vets completing our training courses in Chengdu will turn their backs on it and be able to speak from a position of knowledge when advising peers and the public to do the same.
“At the same time, if confronted by one of the rare instances when devocalisation surgery is necessary for medical reasons – such as removing a cancerous tumour – then these vets will know exactly what kind of post-operative care their patients require.”
Watch the procedure being done on the street here – some viewers may find this graphic – but this is the reality; so take action as given below:
USA you really do need to get your NRA supported Congressman to do something about your total lack of gun control – this is such a regular thing in the USA.
Good to see Trump has ‘God Blessed’ everyone – but has failed to talk about gun control laws – after the biggest mass slaughter in recent times!
World Animal Day was originated by Heinrich Zimmermann, the German writer and publisher of the magazine Mensch und Hund/Man and Dog.
He organized the first World Animal Day on 24 March 1925 at the Sport Palace in Berlin, Germany. Over 5,000 people attended this first event.
The event was originally scheduled for 4 October, to align with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology, however the venue was not available on that day.
The event was moved to 4 October for the first time in 1929. Initially he found a following only in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. Every year Zimmermann worked tirelessly on the promotion of World Animal Day. Finally, in May 1931 at a congress of the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence Italy, his proposal to make 4 October World Animal Day universal, was unanimously accepted and adopted as a resolution.
It is sometimes cited that World Animal Day started in 1931 at the convention of ecologists in Florence, Italy who wished to highlight the plight of endangered species
Today, World Animal Day is a global event uniting the animal protection movement, led and sponsored by UK-based animal welfare charity, Naturewatch Foundation since 2003
Every year, on the same day: the World Animal Day.
In this day, like any other, millions of animals are slaughtered in slaughterhouses, laboratories, circuses, furry farms, in all the Dachau factories of the world, have fallen as victims to human overpower.
We call this “the day of the animals”.
For most, the World Animal Day is just a page on the edge of a newspaper.
An insignificant day.
For some, few, is more of a sad day. For us all who do not wait for this day to think about animals and their suffering, for us, who fight for the rights of the animals and try with all our might to free the last slaves of this world from their chains is rather a mourning day
I think of the thousands strays in Spain, Greece, Romania who are hanged, poisoned, burned on this day.
I think of these animals who today die on a truck transport helpless and agonizingly.
I think of the slotted labor animals, who leave their last breath today under the hands of career addicts and criminal sadists.
Around us there prevails a fascist system of exploitation, destruction, and the killing of the animals, which can only be compared with that of the Third Reich.
And thus the World Day of the Animals becomes a requiem for the victims of the legalized crime of human species.
Every year again, the World Day of Animals. And so, on this day, I trust also to a society, which by the monopolization of freedom and the right to life on its own, has long since reached the moral bankruptcy of the human species.
Venus
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Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)
Serbian Animals Voice (SAV) 