This picture outs tears in your eye...:'(:'(

http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_pho...802125009990013

http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_pho...802125509990029

http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_pho...802125309990002

http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_pho...802125409990021

Officials in the eastern city of Jining said Thursday they would kill all do
gs within three miles of areas where rabies had been found, the official Xin
hua News Agency said.

The measure came in response to the deaths of 16 people from rabies in Jinin
g in the last eight months, Xinhua said. It didn't say when the cull would b
egin or how the animals would be killed. It said the city had about 500,000 
dogs.

Rabies cases are on the rise in China, with more than 2,000 people dying fro
m the disease each year. Only 3 percent of the country's dogs are vaccinated
 against rabies.

Last week, a county in southwestern Yunnan province killed 50,000 dogs after
 three people died of rabies. The massacre provoked unusually pointed critic
ism in state media, while the activist group People For the Ethical Treatmen
t of Animals called for a b
oycott of Chinese products.

Other slaughters have been reported elsewhere in China this year, although t
he government says it has no standard policy of destroying dogs.

"I think this is completely insane," Zhang Luping, founder of the Beijing Hu
man and Animal Environmental Education Center, said Friday in response to Ji
ning's announcement.

"What's more, this really damages our national image and sets a really bad e
xample to show how lazy and inconsiderate those local government officials a
re," Zhang said.

Zhang said there were no laws under which citizens could stop the killings, 
but said she and other animal protection activists were reaching out through
 the media to try to change policy.

"I think this brutal and cold-blooded campaign should stop as soon as possib
le," Zhang said.

People answering phones at Jining's city government and epidemic control cen
ter refused to comment or said they weren't authorized to release informatio
n to media.

The World Health Organization has not directly criticized the slaughters, bu
t WHO experts have said they underscore a lack of coordination and other pro
blems with China's health care system.

The killings have prompted widespread commentary in state media and online f
orums, with opinions strong divided.

Rabies attacks the nervous system. In humans, it normally results in death w
ithin a week after symptoms develop.

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