/ 27 January 2006

Trent Reznor nails Chinese cruelty against cats, dogs

The frontman of United States rock band Nine Inch Nails has become the latest celebrity to speak out against Chinese cruelty towards cats and dogs, through an animal rights video launched on Friday.

Trent Reznor narrated a video for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta, released ahead of the Chinese Year of the Dog that begins on Sunday, showing how cats and dogs are killed painfully and on an industrial scale for their fur.

“Every year, millions of cats and dogs are killed for their fur,” Reznor said in a Peta statement to accompany the release of the video.

“The animals weakened bodies are bludgeoned, hanged, bled, or strangled with wire nooses to kill them.”

The video, available on the group’s website www.peta.org, shows cats and dogs without food or water that have been rounded up in Beijing and other cities as they are hauled onto trucks to their deaths.

The video shows what happens as the animals arrive at their final destination. They are tossed four metres from the arriving trucks which are said to each contain as many as 8 000 live, dead, and dying animals.

“The fur is often deliberately mislabeled as fur from other species,” Peta said in the statement.

“Because fur items sold in the United States dont require labeling unless they are valued at more than $150, fur-wearers may be buying fur from cats and dogs unknowingly, so Peta is urging consumers not to buy any fur.”

Rock star Paul McCartney said in November he would never perform in China after watching a similar video of dogs and cats in a market being slaughtered for fur. – AFP