On September 29 masked university students crouched in
one-cubic-meter iron cages on the streets in Changchun City, the
capital of northeastern Jilin Province. They were representing
helpless cats and dogs waiting to be butchered for food.
The art performance, displaying a variety of tortured
expressions and despairing gestures of the caged animals, was
launched to persuade people to give up eating cats and dogs,
according to Hou Haiyang, the campaign organizer.
Hou, a sophomore from Northeast Normal University, established
the Changchun Animal Protection Association (CAPA) with two of his
classmates last August. They built the CAPA website and passed out
leaflets on the streets to try to persuade people to reject fur
products and to promote birth control for deserted street pets. But
results failed their expectations.
Having been inspired by a Korean protest against eating dog, the
Changchun animal protectors resorted to an art performance. “I was
deeply moved by their performance, and saw the pain filled eyes of
the caged animals. This scenario can hardly be forgotten when we
eat them as meat,” Zhang Deping, a passer-by, said.
An increased number of elderly people and DINK (double incomes
no kids) families are adopting cats and dogs as companions in
China.
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin September 30, 2007)
