China insensitive towards dead pets

Of the more than 200 pets that die each day in Beijing, only one is cremated. The rest are either buried or dumped in trash cans. The practice is not only insensitive, but unhygienic too.

Of the more than 200 pets that die each day in Beijing, only one is cremated. The rest are either buried or dumped in trash cans, Xinhua said.

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Pets were shunned in the days of Mao Zedong as a symbol of bourgeois decadence, but pet pooches have become increasingly popular in the last decade as living standards have risen dizzily.

Residents of Beijing are worried that the careless disposal of dead pets is hurting their campaign for a "green" Olympic Games to be held in the capital in 2008, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

"Quite a number of pet owners bury their pets either in the lawns of residential quarters or in public places, and quite a number of dead pets end up in the trash cans of residential communities," Liao Yumin, manager of the Beijing Boai Animal Crematorium, was quoted as saying.