Last week in Shanghai a pet dog was beaten to death by a “health” worker. The incident, which took place in the Pudong district of the city, was captured on video.
Even in locked down, relentlessly censored China, the video went viral on social media, according to CNN.
Corgi Beaten to Death in Shanghai
The dog was a corgi.
The video shows a COVID prevention worker in protective gear chasing down the corgi and killing it with a shovel.
China News Weekly reported that the corgi’s owner, who tested positive for COVID and was forced to quarantine, had left the dog on the street because he couldn’t find anyone to care for it.
He didn’t want his corgi to starve to death and thought his dog might have a fighting chance fending for itself.
Apparently, since the corgi’s owner had tested positive, the “health” worker was afraid the dog might infect others.
Shanghai’s entire population, some 25 million people, has been forced back into lockdown, a move that has led to extreme emotional despair, at least one murder-suicide, and widespread fear of starvation.
In countries and municipalities around the world, practically since the beginning of the worldwide concerns about COVID, humans have used a fear of this virus as an excuse for some of the most unnecessary animal cruelty the world has ever seen.
Murdered Minks
In November of 2020, Denmark killed nearly 17 million minks. They were gassed to death on a farm in Naestved.
Officials said the animals were killed (but they used the word “culled”) because of fear that the minks could spread the virus back to humans.
They did these killings in a rush and buried the minks in shallow graves. Just a few weeks later decaying bodies of the minks started rising to the surface and literally coming out of the ground, according to a report from The Guardian.
A month after the killings the New York Times reported that this government cruelty resulted in the loss of 5,000 jobs in Denmark and might have been illegal.
Worse still, it’s very likely that—just like with the brutal beating of the corgi in Shanghai, it wasn’t necessary.
Even though there is some evidence that suggests COVID from animals can spread to humans (and vice versa), the risk is likely to be extremely low.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that in the unlikely event that you contract COVID from a pet, the infection will be in any way severe.
Three Snow Leopards Die at Nebraska Zoo
In November 2021, a year after what the Danish started calling “Minkgate,” the children’s zoo in Lincoln, Nebraska announced that three snow leopards died from complications from COVID.
As with deaths in humans “from” COVID, it is likely that the deaths of these animals were not because of the virulence of the virus itself, but because of how the zookeepers managed it.
Why do I say this?
We know from news reports that once the animals tested positive, Ranney, Everest, and Makalu were treated with steroids and antibiotics “to prevent secondary infection.”
But we also know, from a growing body of scientific evidence, that when you administer antibiotics to animals that have a viral infection, the animals are more likely to die.
For example, a 2019 study published by a team of researchers at the Francis Crick Institute in London concluded that mice infected with influenza were three times more likely to die if they were then given antibiotics.
A Cochrane review, published in 2013, found that there is no scientific or medical reason to use antibiotics to treat colds. A full ten percent of people who had colds who were treated with antibiotics experienced side effects. These included bowel problems, diarrhea, nausea, skin rashes, and fungal infections.
The authors of the Cochrane review concluded that: “There is no evidence of benefit from antibiotics for the common cold … There is evidence that antibiotics cause significant adverse effects in adults when given for the common cold.”
Antibiotics administered to humans to fight bacterial infections have been shown to cause acute side effects at least 20 percent of the time.
Did the snow leopards in Nebraska actually die from COVID or were they killed because the vets decided to give them antibiotics, which destroyed their immune systems’ ability to fight off the virus?
We’ll never know.
Animal Abuse Increases
There’s no question that we humans have suffered from increased loneliness, isolation, and domestic violence during this time of global mismanagement. And so, it seems, have our pets.
I’ve seen this firsthand. I’m sure you have too: owners striking their pets, screaming at or choking them. I also know of many depressed and neglected animals who are being left inside all day, partly because their owners are afraid to go outside.
When people feel unhappy and frustrated, they often take their unhappiness and frustration out on their dogs or cats. So much so that animal rights lawyer Bianka Atlas, LLM, calls domestic abuse of companion animals a shadow pandemic accompanying the COVID crisis.
Millions of people adopted or purchased pets for the first time during COVID. Many then found themselves with animals, from birds to snakes to dogs and cats, that they were not equipped to care for.
One of the young adults in my life called me, upset, to talk about this. Their partner had purchased a parrot they could no longer care for.
“It’s so bonded to me, and now we have to let it go. It seems really cruel.”
In 2011, when I went to Norway to do research for one of my books, my friend Rolf said something that has resonated with me ever since.
“I’ve traveled all over the world,” he began, “… [and] I’ve noticed there’s a direct connection between countries where people treat animals humanely and with kindness and countries that have good human rights, especially for women.”
The barbaric murder of a corgi in China put the world’s focus on Shanghai. But the inconsistent, contradictory, and even cruel responses to COVID over the past two years have left me feeling like humans everywhere have lost our humanity. It’s time to get it back.
Related posts:
Be Extra Kind to Your Mom, Because You Only Have One, Warts and All
Talking to Kids About the Death of a Pet
Norwegians Believe Neutering Dogs is Cruel
Hi Jennifer,
Before we explore Shanghai, here in the USA there is the decimation of honey bees. Last year our place was thick with bees, This year seems only a handful. Other folks who live in counties North of us experience the same thing. Fortunately there are wild bees to pollinate. Wild bees are usually much smaller that the European Honey Bee. But they get the job done. So far wild bees survive. For the first time since Genie and I have been gardening at Jim's (my brother) the R/W of the road was sprayed with Glyphosate. No warning. No reason for that, since we keep our side of the R/W clear and weeded.
And of course there is cloud seeding here is California with silver iodide. Rough stuff for the bacteria that usually bring the rain. Since this seeding of the clouds here in the West began about 20 years ago, we have gone into a very long deep drought. Just a coincidence I am sure. NOT. Destruction of the basis of life here in the USA goes unnoticed and unreported.
We may yet have a Silent Spring. There are fewer birds and what use to be a euphony is now just a handful of birds singing.
So it is easy to point to China as say omg look at what is happening there. I understand your lead in as you continue to explore the subject from may angles. However China bashing has become a pastime in this country. One should reflect on scale. Statistics follow...
https://populationstat.com/china/shanghai
Shanghai Population Review
With 27 million people living in its urban area, Shanghai is the largest city in China, and the largest city in the world—and the city’s population is only expected to grow. By 2035, Shanghai is predicted to have over 34 million people! That’s quite the number, especially when you consider that the average life expectancy is 82-years-old.
Shanghai is an expansive city that stretches over 7,037 kilometers. The extraordinarily populated city has an average density of 2,059 people living per square kilometer. Things get even more crowded in the urban areas, with an incredible 3,854 people crammed into a kilometer.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/new-york-population-change-between-census-decade.html
New York State Population Topped 20 Million in 2020
See the graphs by going to the Link. No where at that link could I find longevity. What I do know is the USA was top 10 in the world when I graduated from high school. Japan and the Scandinavian countries were in the top ten as well. I was disappointed that the US was not #1
Now according to the link below we are 46 in the world.
https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
Which I have my doubts about. When I was working at the hospital the US was about 56 in the world. According to a R.F. Kennedy Jr. we are 79th. R.F.K. Jr.s stat is more believable when one looks at US citizens on the street and realize they are fed corporate food.
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Police shoot dogs when ever the go to make an arrest and a dog is present. ATF exterminates men, women, children and babies (David Koresh and members Branch Dividine Waco Texas). That is in the past and now we do it with greater sophistication SarsCov2 and maxxine.
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We the people of the United States need to look into the mirror, clean up our act and be a light unto the world rather than throwing mud where ever we can.
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About Shanghai. Larry Romanoff lives there. How did China push back against the first outbreak in the fall/winter of 2019 before there were maxxines. TCM which stands for Traditional Chinese Medicine. They analyzed how the body was being affected. Then used acupuncture, herbs, diet and lifestyle (think special Qigong exercises that target affected areas). The Chinese prevailed. They have been under constant biological attack from the West since the Korean War.
Here is a link to and Israeli point of view:
https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/shows/the-jerusalem-report/jj_RdXii_d
Ilana Rachel Daniel is an Israeli and I love her work. If you can hang in there it is a great report. She makes a very gutsy observation about the Israeli government and world governments in general. She is not happy regarding Shanghai.
Then there is this by Larry Romanoff.
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/6597/
Pfizer’s Perfectly-Timed Epidemic
You may not like Larry Romanoff. But I find that his insight into the history of the current struggle with maxxine very helpful.
Finally all this in a snow storm to distract from the fact that the US has bio weapons labs around the world that are targeting specific genomes. The US is the world leader in crimes against humanity, but rather than face the music it points at others who have done far less.
enough said.
Absolutely turns my stomach… the ability for humans to be cruel is beyond my comprehension. Definitely not going to be returning to this planet!