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Japan has mobile gas chamber trucks for euthanizing stray animals? The fuck

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Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/29/us-japan-dogs-idUSTRE62S0KL20100329
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/25/japan-stray-animal-death-trucks

Old story, but I didn't know about it and found the story when looking for pictures for my other thread.

J1T9PX5.jpg


A local council in Japan has adopted a new method of dealing with stray dogs and cats: mobile extermination vehicles equipped with pet-sized gas chambers.

The so-called death trucks were introduced after residents of Tokushima prefecture, in south-west Japan, said they did not want abandoned animals destroyed in their neighbourhood.


The council's solution was to put the unwanted animals to sleep while they are transported to a regional crematorium, ensuring they are dead on arrival.

Dogs and cats marked for death are shut inside sealed metal boxes termed "sedation equipment" measuring 1.2 metres wide, 1.2 metres high and 1.5 metres deep, officials told Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Once the eight-tonne truck is on the road, the driver pushes a button that releases carbon dioxide into the boxes, the paper reported. The journey to the regional crematorium takes about one hour. By the time the truck arrives, the animals are said to be dead.


Tokushima officials described the trucks as a last-ditch measure, saying they would prefer the condemned pets to go to good homes. "If possible we would like them to have an owner and live on," said an official at an animal welfare centre in Kamiyama.

The mobile gas chamber system has proved to be highly efficient, with an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 dogs and cats gassed annually. One advantage of killing animals in a moving vehicle is said to be that it removes the need to find a permanent site for destroying them.

Tokushima's approach has been copied elsewhere. Nara City, in southern Japan, bought death truck equipment worth £320,000 in 2008.

Fusako Nogami, of the All Life in Viable Environment animal welfare group, told Asahi Shimbun that irresponsible pet owners were to blame for the situation.

"If they can no longer keep their animals, people should try to find a new owner. They could at least choose euthanasia at an animal hospital, seeing them off in their own arms," she said. "When owners ask [the prefecture] to take their pets, local governments must also try to persuade them to be responsible until the last moment."

Environment ministry figures recorded 336,349 abandoned dogs and cats in Japan in 2007-08. Of those, 299,316 (89%) were put down, while 36,121 animals were found new homes.

Reuters Life!) - It's a dog's life for a stray mutt in any country, but in Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more likely to be put down than to find a new home.

While in some other industrialized countries the idea of "saving" a pet from a shelter is well-established, in Japan animal welfare activists say strays often fall foul of an attitude that prizes puppies and pedigrees as status symbols.

"In Britain, the public go to animal welfare shelters to adopt an animal and save a life. The mindset in Japan is still 'if you want a pet, go to a pet shop'," said Briar Simpson, a New Zealander who works for Japan's animal shelter ARK, via e-mail.

In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity.

In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE says.

In rural areas such as Tokushima Prefecture, on the southwestern island of Shikoku, the situation is even worse. In 2008 alone, more than 88 percent of abandoned dogs at the Tokushima Animal Welfare Center were put down.


Most strays have been abandoned by their owners, while others are the offspring of abandoned dogs that have gone wild. Some hunting dogs are dumped in the off-season rather than kept for the following year's season, activists say.

But whatever their former lives, once at the center the dogs are kept for a maximum of only seven days.

CHANGING ATTITUDES

Kensuke Kuramoto, a dog trainer exercising his Dobermann in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, said too many people treat dogs like toys and trinkets.

"First of all, too many people are raising dogs in Japan, and people tend to view their lives too lightly," he said.

"As there are people who treat dogs as part of their family, there are also those who buy them for simple reasons like celebrating a daughters birthday."

Attitudes are changing slowly due to media coverage in recent years, especially in the cities where the pet boom is at its height. More people are adopting strays.

"I have these two dogs because someone threw them away, but as dogs are living creatures, it's similar to murder if you throw them away," said Mika Takahashi, a 21-year-old resident of Tokyo as she walked her two pets -- one a pedigree Italian greyhound and the other dark-grey husky mongrel.

However, taking in an abandoned dog is still not very common in Japan despite the burgeoning dog population. At more than 6.8 million in 2008, there are already more canines in the nation than children under the age of six.

And more than 118,000 dogs a year Japan still end up in the dog pound, according to the latest 2008 statistics. Out of these only a handful will be found new homes.

At the Tokushima Animal Welfare Center alone, more than 2,700 dogs were put to death in the year to March 2009.

When the center was built, officials promised locals they would not kill any dogs on site, so they are asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas in metal containers euphemistically called "dream boxes" aboard a truck between the center and the local crematorium.

However painless the operation is, the process is still emotionally painful for those that have to see it daily.

"Whenever I press the button to inject the gas, I feel totally powerless," said the centre's chief veterinarian, Akinori Kume, his eyes filled with tears.

Japan get your shit together. WTF. Someone familiar with the situation, please tell me they have gotten better.
 

Owari

Member
Japan is a cool country but they are pretty much fucked up when it comes to animal rights. Sickening.
 
We need to enforce pet license. Wanna cute puppy or kitty? Then you need at least 20h of education on how to take care of your pet and why you might consider pound pet. Maybe this would cull some lazy/bad owners.

Edit. I also know they need to put down the stray animals. I just hope we would do something about the root problem.
 

Dazza

Member
meh it's better than putting animals in a bag and smashing it against a wall or the ground. Yes this happens in Western countries by animal control
 

Arkeband

Banned
This might seem "WTF" to you, but my brother works in China and one day his class rushed to the window because they heard high-pitched screaming outside.

A guard for the school was beating a stray dog to death with a baseball bat.

When he left for the day, there was trail of blood from the courtyard to the bus stop.

So comparatively, at least Japan isn't publicly executing animals in front of schoolchildren.
 

Lashley

Why does he wear the mask!?
This might seem "WTF" to you, but my brother works in China and one day his class rushed to the window because they heard high-pitched screaming outside.

A guard for the school was beating a stray dog to death with a baseball bat.

When he left for the day, there was trail of blood from the courtyard to the bus stop.

So comparatively, at least Japan isn't publicly executing animals in front of schoolchildren.

Whenever I hear about China its usually something to do with animal cruelty

Are they really that bad? :(
 

Vagabundo

Member
I'm an animal lover, but really I dont see much wrong with it. If they can't rehouse the damn things especally cats.

Dogs are annoying, but stray - and house - cats have a massive impact on urban birds and wildlife.

As long as its not painful - they fall asleep - I'm for something like this.
 

Sulik2

Member
Stray animals have a serious impact on the environment. This honestly is a fairly humane way to handle something that can cause real problems. IE Australia.
 
I remember from my time in Japan, which is now over ten years ago.

I heard even back then, that al lot of these girls having these small dogs in their Gucci and Loius Vuiton Bags bring them to these gas chamber places when they get tired of them.

Pretty cruel, if you ask me..
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
No issues with this. Sounds pragmatic and peaceful for the animal. Don't want them dead? Adopt them then. Otherwise they're a nuisance on the environment and a danger if they go rabid or feral. Small chance I know, but still.
 

Slavik81

Member
Why is euthanizing stray animals in mobile station so dramatically worse than euthanizing stray animals at a dedicated building?
 
The problem isn't really the mobile gas chamber but the fact that many people are buying cats and dogs but don't take responsibility after the honeymoon phase.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
The actual numbers in the article are the most interesting part. Obviously the number of animals that go to a new home versus eventually get euthanized is pretty unfortunate, but 89% in Japan seems pretty high (on par with PETA, which is not a good place to be). Are there any good stats as a whole for the US, or is it just via each animal shelter/agency?

And yeah, options for reducing the number of animals that end up abandoned seems like a good preemptive measure. I'm not sure what exactly you could do though. Banning breeding and stuff would probably only push it underground, although making it more expensive might help reduce the number of unwanted pets.

Whenever I hear about China its usually something to do with animal cruelty

Are they really that bad? :(

They eat dogs; overall they have a different view of the role of animals that we more strictly keep in the pet category. With that said I don't think there are any more jackasses in China harming or killing dogs for the hell of it than there are here, although it might be harder to get away with in the States.
 
Good on Japan.

If no one wants to take them, I don't see the issue.
How about the fact that "And more than 118,000 dogs a year Japan still end up in the dog pound, according to the latest 2008 statistics. Out of these only a handful will be found new homes."

Or "In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity. In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE"

That is seriously fucked up and just plain animal cruelty.
 

Makonero

Member
That's one way to deal with the issue. I mean, PETA does it much worse, since they actually steal pets and euthanize them.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
How about the fact that "And more than 118,000 dogs a year Japan still end up in the dog pound, according to the latest 2008 statistics. Out of these only a handful will be found new homes."

Or "In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity. In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE"

That is seriously fucked up and just plain animal cruelty.
Clearly, no one is adopting the animals. You fucking go to japan and adopt 70 percent of 118,000 dogs.

Your problem should be with the people of Japan who aren't neutering and spaying their animals.
 
How about the fact that "And more than 118,000 dogs a year Japan still end up in the dog pound, according to the latest 2008 statistics. Out of these only a handful will be found new homes."

Or "In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity. In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE"

That is seriously fucked up and just plain animal cruelty.

It's probably because the pet-to-family ratio is all out of whack in Japan:

However, taking in an abandoned dog is still not very common in Japan despite the burgeoning dog population. At more than 6.8 million in 2008, there are already more canines in the nation than children under the age of six.

I'm not sure if Japan should use up so many resources taking care of all these dogs, as unfortunate as it is to say. Japan should push a neuter/spay campaign.
 
I was unaware of Japan having this problem as on the other side you have reports like this. It is a long time since I listened to it but I seem to remember one area having more clothing shops for dogs than for babies.

But maybe that is what is fueling this problem is that people think keeping a dog is easy and cool and then don't know what to do when they find out it isn't easy :(
 
Clearly, no one is adopting the animals. You fucking go to japan and adopt 70 percent of 118,000 dogs.

Your problem should be with the people of Japan who aren't neutering and spaying their animals.
That was my point. My issue was the high number of abandoned pets. Japanese people need to take better care of their pets. I understand that stray animals have to be put down but these numbers are insane and show there is something seriously wrong with Japan's pet culture.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
That was my point. My issue was the high number of abandoned pets. Japanese people need to take better care of their pets. I understand that stray animals have to be put down but these numbers are insane and show there is something seriously wrong with Japan's pet culture.
My mistake.

When I said "I don't see a problem" and your response was "How about the fact...," I misinterpreted it as a disagreement.

Usually, when I see "How about the fact..." it's in sarcastic disagreement, haha. Sorry.
 

clav

Member
That was my point. My issue was the high number of abandoned pets. Japanese people need to take better care of their pets. I understand that stray animals have to be put down but these numbers are insane and show there is something seriously wrong with Japan's pet culture.
Other countries have the same problem.

Easy to blame it on one when it exists everywhere.
 

DarkKyo

Member
OMG THAT PICTURE....

I'm going to go hug my shibas now :'(

What a better world this planet would be without humans. Some animals might suffer in the wild but at least they'd have a chance...

edit: yes, I'm aware domesticated dog breeds wouldn't even exist without humans
 
Other countries have the same problem.

Easy to blame it on one when it exists everywhere.

I know it's not Japan only problem but it seems to be really bad in Japan. At least when compared to UK if the OP's numbers are good indicator.
Or "In Britain, approximately 6 to 9 percent of dogs in pounds are put to death every year, 2007-2009 figures show, according to the website of Dogs Trust, the nation's largest dog welfare charity. In Japan that figure is more than 70 percent, the Japanese animal welfare organization ALIVE"

But it is true that it's not just Japan that needs tighter regulation of pet shops and owners to have pet licenses. I know these things aren't coming to countries like China anytime soon but at least EU/JAPAN could pull them off.
 
I love animals and this is actually more humane than what we do in most parts of America in terms of animal control.

The real issue here is Japan needs to make it so you have to obtain a pet license, then make neutering mandatory unless you're a licensed breeder, then make microchipping mandatory, and then also make it illegal to abandon an animal and fine/punish those that do - you know, kind of like exactly what we should do in the US but never will.
 

Krowley

Member
IMO killing animals with higher levels of cognition, like dogs and cats, for "pragmatic" reasons is not morally viable.

Killing them for food is fine, killing them to protect yourself is fine, killing them because they're a "nuisance" just doesn't pass the smell test for me.

Fuck this practice..

To be fair, I don't have a better answer for dealing with these problems. I suppose I think we ought to just shut up and deal with the inconvenience. I think that the people who seem to be okay with this would feel a lot different if they had to go out and kill the animals themselves.
 

Foffy

Banned

Let's be real here: human beings are a bigger problem to the environment than any other type of life.

The games that other life are problems, especially bigger than us, is the highest level of reasoned madness we can adhere to.

If one doesn't want to accept that fact, that's their ignore-ance.
 

Neo_Geo

Banned
Its hard to think of something like this being an animal lover, but at least its humane. Its a necessary evil, IMO.
 
When I spent time in Japan I saw packs of stray dogs roaming around together. Cute little puppies get big enough that sometimes people just kick them out of their apartments. They would sometimes attack people for food. Once a few tried to cross through a long tunnel during rush hour, it went really badly for everyone. My point is that some countries don't have the resources or enough cultural awareness to deal with stray animals, and it's not a great life. Maybe this isn't such a terrible thing.

Though in the long run, yes they need enough people to start shelters and start educating people.
 

clav

Member
I know it's not Japan only problem but it seems to be really bad in Japan.

You probably want to look into places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

When I spent time in Japan I saw packs of stray dogs roaming around together. Cute little puppies get big enough that sometimes people just kick them out of their apartments. They would sometimes attack people for food. Once a few tried to cross through a long tunnel during rush hour, it went really badly for everyone. My point is that some countries don't have the resources or enough cultural awareness to deal with stray animals, and it's not a great life. Maybe this isn't such a terrible thing.

Though in the long run, yes they need enough people to start shelters and start educating people.

There's also the risk of spreading rabies if the population gets out of control.
 

KillGore

Member
Seems somewhat cruel...but I would be all for it if they implemented something like this in Puerto Rico. Way too many strays here. You constantly see dead bodies of dogs and cats on the roads here.

Adoption isn't working here and a lot of people breed dogs just to sell them. It's disgusting.
 

Nokagi

Unconfirmed Member
If this story freaks you out I dare not even tell you how my great grandma use to deal with stray animals.
 
You probably want to look into places like Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
I know we have plenty of countries with really big problems. I also don't even expect some of these countries to be same level with animal welfare then Japan or various EU countries. Many of them haven't been economically stable for long as Japan and parts of EU. Animal rights are low on the list when sorting out various economical, political, health, etc. issues. There are obviously also cultural differences that contribute into the problem. Or maybe it's not a problem, unfortunately there are no universal moral standards :(
 
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