Is it terrible to wish Beijing be overrun with rats about 8/5?

[jmowreader]

The news that Beijing has decided to demonize the cat, to the point of rounding them up and sending them to cat gulags where they die slow, painful deaths in little cages, is just the latest atrocity that makes me wish our next president would stand up on inauguration day and direct this comment to China: "although we will no longer interfere with the internal affairs of foreign nations, if you fucking morans don't get your shit together by the first of March our borders are closed to your goods."

History shows us that when a country decimates its cat population, its rat population explodes. You know, the old "predator-prey balance" thing. Take away all the cats, as Beijing seems intent on doing, and the rats, complete with such fun rat-borne diseases as the bubonic plague, soon follow.

So I'm thinkin' that just maybe what China needs is one of NBC's gymnastics color commentators to casually mention, as she's doing the warmup show before the first floor routines take place, that she woke up in the middle of the night and the biggest rat she'd ever seen in her life was sitting on her bed staring at her. Or even better, after the lady said that another of the announcers were to mention that just about everyone in the press corps was finding huge live rats in their hotels, but that's what you get when you kill off all the cats like the Chinese government did earlier this year.

[rpannier]

1. recommend and agree

But the Chinese already know how to handle those rats

They'd just cover the city in pesticide

[jakem]

2. why would they send them to slow and painful deaths

when quick is cheaper and easier?

[jmowreader]

4. Slow and painful is much cheaper

The Chinese cat killers are offing the cats in one of two ways.

The fast, easy way is to send them in little cages to places where "exotic" animal "delicacies" are served. These people eat tiger penises. Compared to killing a tiger just so some rich Chinese man can eat his dick because, supposedly, it makes your own dick bigger when you do.

The slow, painful way is just to pack them in cages so tight they can't turn around, then wait until they die from diseases.

[jakem]

5. what ridiculous crap you just perpetuated.

"these people" you have just lumped into one group are a good % of the worlds population.
The Chinese have no monopoly on cruelty- this is a human condition, not an Asian one. Michael Vick anyone?
And no, I am not saying Tigers are not needlessly killed, but to blame "the Chinese" as a group is offensive and absurd.

---


the fast way = an axe.
i asked a simple and pragmatic question, as there is little reason to make animals suffer, if the supposed goal is to kill them.

[dysfunctional press]

7. have you seen this article...?

it's what the op is referring to-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=528694&in_page_id=1811

Olympics clean-up Chinese style: Inside Beijing's shocking death camp for cats

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.

The cull comes in the wake of a government campaign warning of the diseases cats carry and ordering residents to help clear the streets of them...

[jakem]

9. i do not dispute the article.

i questioned the blanket condemnation of "the Chinese" which happens frequently here on DU

i do not defend the decision to kill the cats of Beijing, but i am not sure why the cage size is the big issue here-
they are probably there for all of a day or two before being killed.

animals in most of the world are treated as animals, not as pets. it sounds like they are being treated in the same way as we (collectively, not individually) treat chickens or pigs.



sorry, it is regrettable, but i am not feeling the outrage.

[dysfunctional press]

21. "the Chinese" in this case refers to the chinese government-

they are broadcasting propaganda demonizing cats, and falsely blaming them for spreading diseases, to the point that people are even giving up their pets to the slaughter.
and perhaps people here who have cats as pets are a little more sensitive to it- but it's still pretty heinous to perpetrate a feline genocide based on a lie.

[Johonny]

14. I agree

The person who wrote this might want to pop by any large US cities animal shelter and find out how many US animals are killed every year.

[spoony]

3. Exactly, and like China needs another gateway for disease

I guess swine flu, Hep B, avian flu, TB, and SARS are getting boring and they're looking for some good old fashioned plague.

[Dorian Gray]

6. That story

was really really really disturbing and disgusting. I don't understand WHY the Chinese government has the propaganda that CATS carry diseases that humans can catch. It's so weird!

[1monster]

8. My first thought was that the plagues that decimated Europe's populations in the

Middle Ages and Renaissance Periods came from the Far East aboard ships carrying rats which carried the fleas which brought the plague.

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

This is the house that Jack built.
This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
The is the rat from China that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the flea which carried the plague that lived on the rat from China that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the maiden all forlorn who was bitten by the flea which carried the plague that lived on the rat from China that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the farmer all tattered and torn who nursed the maiden all forlorn who was bitten by the flea which the plague that lived on the rat from China that ate the malt that lived in the house that Jack Built.
This is the death cart well-used and worn that carried away the farmer all tattered and torn who nursed the maiden all forlorn who was bitten by the flea which carried the plague that lived on the rat from China that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
This is the red X painted on the door of Farmer Jack all tattered and torn who was carried away by the death cart well-used and worn who nursed the maiden all forlorn who was bitten by the flea which carried the plague that lived on the rat from China that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.

Watch out for those container ships, guys...

[AngryAmish]

11. Pedantic point - Black Death did not come from ships from Far East

Black Death first appeared in Europe in the 14th Century. At that time there was no ships capable of going to Europe and the Far East (assuming you mean eastern Asia ie China). No Suez canal and the ships were too small to get around Aftrica.

Wikipedia says it started in Central Asia (or even Africa). <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death>

Either way it was spread along the Silk Road. The Mongols enabled the Silk Road to work. Black Death just one more thing we can relate to the Mongols. (I find the Mongols fascinating).

Anyway, they should leave the cats alone. Cheers.

[1monster]

12. Okay, You got me about the ships. But, if China is the Far East, the I don't see

how Mongolia isn't the Far East too.

If you want to get technical: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubonic_plague

In A.D. 588 a second major wave of plague spread through the Mediterranean into what is now France. It is estimated that the Plague of Justinian killed as many as 100 million people across the world.<7><8> It caused the Europe's population to drop by around 50% between 541 and 700.<9> It also may have contributed to the success of the Arab conquests.<10> <11> An outbreak of it in the A.D. 560s was described in A.D. 790 as causing "swellings in the glands...in the manner of a nut or date" in the groin "and in other rather delicate places followed by an unbearable fever". While the swellings in this description have been identified by some as buboes, there is some contention as to whether the pandemic should be attributed to the bubonic plague, Yersinia pestis, known in modern times.<12> (snip)

From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death, a massive and deadly pandemic originated in Central Asia, swept through Asia, Europe and Africa. It may have reduced the world's population from 450 million to between 350 and 375 million.<13> China lost around half of its population (from around 123 million to around 65 million), Europe around 1/3 of its population (from about 75 million to about 50 million) and Africa approximately 1/8th of its population (from around 80 million to 70 million). (The death tolls were most likely directly related to population density, or crowding. The more people in an area, the faster the plague could spread, and the more people died. Thus Africa, with its smaller, more spread out population, had the lowest percentage of its population killed.) This makes the Black Death the largest death toll from any known non-viral epidemic. Although accurate statistical data does not exist, it is thought that 1.4 million died in England (1/3 of England's 4.2 million people), while an even higher percentage of Italy's population was likely wiped out. On the other hand, Northeastern Germany, Bohemia, Poland and Hungary are believed to have suffered less, and there are no estimates available for Russia or the Balkans. It is conceivable that Russia may not have been as affected due to its very cold climate and large size, hence often less close contact with the contagion.

The Black Death continued to strike parts of Europe sporadically until the 17th century, each time with reduced intensity and fatality, suggesting an increased resistance due to genetic selection.<12> Some have also argued that changes in hygiene habits and efforts to improve public health and sanitation had a significant impact on the falling rates of infection.

[AngryAmish]

15. Mongol Empire was much more than Mongolia

(oooo!! you got me talking about the Mongols)

From modern day Turkey to the Pacific Ocean. A probe even reached the gates of Vienna. Russia referred to the "Tartar Yolk" and Russia is not considered the far east. If it started in the middle of the Silk Road (Samarkand and the ilk) that is clearly central Asia.


All that said, I am quibbling over a small point. I am a small, petty man. Forgive me.

[1monster]

22. Yes, I was aware of the fact that the Mongols were wide spread at one time...

From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death, a massive and deadly pandemic originated in Central Asia, swept through Asia, Europe and Africa.

and evn ruled China under the Yuan Dynasty for a time...

But just to be petty right backatcha (can't have you standing in pettiness alone! :o ) there is the excerpt from the excerpt in my post above.

:D :*

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. "Is it terrible to wish Beijing be overrun with rats? - Short answer - YES

.
.
.
What a heck of a thing to wish on anyone.

So yeah, despite what the Chinese authorities are/are not doing,

To wish a rat infestation on a population is not just terrible,

It is sick.

[lonestarnot]

17. So is eating cats.

[WinkyDink]

13. First the big cats, now the little ones. Gotta love those whacky Chinese!

[supernova]

16. Why do they think cats are the problem?

:wtf:

It is strange to me that they would blame cats.

And no, I don't wish a huge rat population explosion right before the Olympics. Even if the Bejing officials who institute this policy do, to a degree, deserve to reap with they sow, the tons of other international visitors and the athletes do not.

[Indenturedebtor]

18. First of all

I don't see a link?

Secondly, I don't know if you've travelled much but in large cities with warm climates the cats are like a plague. They roam in packs of 20-30 and crap everywhere. If you turn around while sitting in a cafe they descend on your table and steal your lunch. And yes, they carry disease. These aren't house cats. They're cats who have basically taken on the role of rats. They eat garbage, sleep in sewers, etc etc.

Now we don't really have this issue here. Why? Oh that's right because we round up our "excess" animals and put most of them to death. How many animals do you think ever find a second home? Not many.

How many rat killing cats are roaming Murikas streets? How do we deal with our rat issues? With poison. And Chinese cities are cleaner than ours are lol!

Dont' be angry at the government for rounding up the cats. Be angry if they're putting them to sleep inhumanely. But without a link? All I have is your words :shrug:

But be more angry at the morons who don't get their pets spayed/neutered. Cats kill more songbirds than rats. Having hoards of domestic cats running around is not good for the local critters anyways. But then again I don't know that I really saw any wild cats in Beijing, and we were there for i think about 3 weeks. Didn't seem to be a huge problem like it is in the Med. Eh.

How about we focus on our Domestic problems instead of getting all riled up about the "others". We've got some REALLY sick shit going on here in the states that needs talking about.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. Is there a correlation between rats and cats?

My cats don't seem to do much about the mice in my house. I wonder how it works in China?

Useless meowing critters.

:rofl:

For rats, I'd recommend a Norwegian Elkhound, or a Jack Russell Terrier. Instant death to rats.

[1monster]

23. You must have lazy cats! My cats bring home dead rodents more often than I would like...

On the other hand, before we had cats, we had rats. My husband hung a bird feeder off the California rafters at one time.

We head a commotion one fine evening, turned on the outside lights and saw a scene right out of BEN. Hundreds of rats on the rafters fighting over the bird seed, while below them, mice waited for whatever they dropped.

Those pesky sharp-toothed critters also chewed through two 2x4s nailed together that was a support beam...

My neighbors were constantly having problems with rats nesting in her dryer vent pipe. Now between us, we have nine cats and no rats.

[ensho]

20. yes it is terrible of you - first the people had their cats taken and killed

and then you want to plague them with rats!

[Evoman]

24. Dupe

[Evoman]

25. Cat's spread diseases? Uh...maybe you should be more worried about rats and fowl than freakin cats

As far as I know, cats weren't responsible for SARS or Avian flu.

[1620rock]

26. A pox on their houses!