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Thieves poison dogs and sell them as meat Last updated at 17:10pm on 30th January 2007
Thieves have poisoned more than 100 pet dogs in a southern Chinese village and sold them to restaurants for their meat, a village official has said.
The gang fed the dogs poisoned noodles and later collected their bodies, in southern Guangdong province's village of Taian, village council chairman Yu Tiansong claimed.
"The thieves come around midnight on bicycles," said Mr Tiansong.
"They roam around the village and feed the dogs with poisonous rice noodles," Yu said.
It was not immediately clear what kind of poison was used, but Mr Tiansong said the dogs died within 10 minutes of eating the tainted food.
He added that the perpetrators were likely taking the carcasses to sell them to restaurants.
More than 100 pet dogs have been killed in Taian in recent months.
"They only steal the bigger dogs, so in the next morning we can see the smaller dead dogs scattered on the streets," he said.
The Yangcheng Evening News quoted the owner of one of the poisoned dogs as saying budget restaurants were known to buy the animals' bodies. Dog meat is a common menu item in China.
"A live dog can be sold for about 300 Chinese yuan (US$40), but some cheap restaurants would also buy dead dogs," the newspaper quoted the owner, identified by the surname Liu, as saying.
The Yangcheng Evening News also said the dog killings in Taian have raised fears about the sale of meat from dogs killed by poisoning.
It quoted a health official, identified only by the surname Shi, as saying no one had been arrested for the incidents.
Activists have complained of alleged animal cruelty in China, saying merchants beat cats and dogs to death and even flay them alive for their skins.
One group, Humane Society International, estimates that 5,400 cats and dogs are killed in China for their fur each day.
The government says awareness of protecting animals has risen along with China's economic growth.
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