By Grace Qi
Updated on: September 30, 2020/11: 19
/ CBS News
Beijing – At least 5,000 animals were found dead in shipping boxes last week at a logistics facility in central China, likely victims of poor communication in the industry’s supply chain booming mass ranching in China Only a few hundred animals have been rescued and authorities have launched an investigation into the grim discovery in Henan province, a local animal rescue group told CBS News on Wednesday
« The station was crowded with express boxes with thousands of animals that were already dead, and the whole place smelled of rotting bodies, » said Sister Hua, founder of animal rescue group Utopia. She doesn’t use her real name, saying that she prefers to keep the attention on the animals rather than on herself personally
« It was like hell, » she told CBS News in a phone interview on Wednesday
The animals included rabbits, guinea pigs, cats and dogs, all held in plastic or metal cages wrapped in cardboard boxes with breathing holes They had been left in the boxes without food or water for about a week before being discovered at Dongxing Logistics Station in Luohe City, Henan
Chinese law prohibits shipping live animals in normal packaging Hua said it was likely the animals were purchased online as pets, but left stranded at the logistics depot due to a delay in collection, as the logistics company involved may have refused to sign a shipment that violates transport laws
« Communication problems within the shipping company and the inconsistency in the implementation of shipping regulations directly led to the tragedy, » Hua said « Of course buyers and sellers wear it also the responsibility »
The shipping company, Yunda, told local media they were not aware of the incident, but that their staff had confirmed they were allowing the transport of live animals in pierced boxes, according to the state newspaper Global Times
Hua and his 20 fellow volunteers managed to save 200 rabbits and 50 dogs and cats from the scene Many were adopted on the spot and the seriously ill animals were sent to veterinary clinics Local authorities organized the collection, the disinfection and burial of thousands of dead animals
After the rescue operation in Luohe town, Hua and his charity learned that another batch of animals was being transported to the nearby village of Dameng After 13 hours of further rescue operations, the group saved around 1000 additional animals, mostly rabbits But that was only about half of the total number found at the second site, and the rest are dead
She told CBS News the two incidents are unacceptable both in terms of animal welfare and risk to human public health
« Considering the COVID-19 pandemic we are facing, it’s so terrifying to see these live animals transported this way, and even end up dying, » she said.
« Go for adoption rather than the illegal purchase and shipment of animals, » Hua urged the public, while calling on Chinese authorities to « strictly enforce » the rules already in place regarding the shipment of live animals
First published on September 30, 2020 / 11:13
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World News – United States – 5,000 pets found dead in boxes at Chinese shipping depot
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