ACTION ALERT: Beijing Purging City of Stray Cats in Preparation for Upcoming Olympic Games

[Maggie Funkhouser]

In 2004, 50,000 cats and dogs were poisoned prior to the Games in
Athens, Greece. For the past few months, cats in London have been
(still are being) killed by the construction of sites for the 2012
Olympic Games. And now with the 2008 Games only five months away,
Beijing is following a similar path, by rounding up stray cats to
"cleanse" the city.

According to an England newspaper, Beijing's agricultural bureau
director recently ordered that "all stray cats must be caught and
taken off the streets before the end of June, to ensure the city looks
its best...for the Olympics." Cats are being trapped and placed in
crowded holding pens, which animal activists are comparing to the size
of microwave ovens. The order states that strays unclaimed after 14
days will be "dealt with".

The Capital Animal Welfare Association (located in Beijing) estimates
160,000 to 200,000 animals are at risk from the new campaign. Qin
Xiaona, head of the animal welfare association told The Times, "the
officials said they did not want the Olympic athletes to see a single
stray animal. This is partly because the Chinese care so much about
face." Mrs. Qin wants to know from the International Olympic
Committee and the athletes: "Do they feel that they can take part
comfortably in the Olympics if the price of the games is the lives of
so many animals?" Alley Cat Rescue asks the same question to those of
us who support the Olympic Games.

It is a great honor to welcome the entire world to your home town and
be enthralled in the glorious buzz of international news. The
opportunity to host such a legendary event is in every meaning of the
word priceless. Unfortunately, there is an ugly untold story following
in the wake of this worldly tradition--cats and dogs living in these
areas are horribly killed in order to "cleanse" the future sites of
the Games. Stray and feral cats and dogs are poisoned, trapped to be
destroyed, or simply killed when demolition crews tear down old
structures to build the new facilities. This has been a practice of
past Olympic sites and it continues to be a practice of those on the
list to host the Games in the future.

It is time to demand the International Olympic Committee to step in
and prohibit participating cities from "rounding up" and killing stray
cats and dogs as preparation for the Games. The Olympic Committee
needs to express their disapproval with such actions and clearly
advise against such a horrible protocol. Therefore, ACR is
encouraging our members to continue to pressure the International
Olympic Committee to take action. We desperately need to let the
Committee know that, as supporters of the Olympic Games, we are
outraged by the terrible treatment of animals and if the current trend
of "cleansing" future sites does not stop, they will lose our support.

Please express your disapproval by contacting:

International Olympic Committee
Château de Vidy
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland

Tel: (41.21) 621 61 11
Fax: (41.21) 621 62 16

SEND LETTERS TO PARTICIPATING CITIES:

Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG)
267 Bei Si Huan Zhong Lu
Haidian District
Beijing 100083, China

Tel: (86.10) 66 69 91 85
Fax: (86.10) 66 69 92 29
Email: 20...@beijing2008.cn

London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG)
23rd Floor, One Churchill Place
London E14 5LN

Tel.: +44 203 2012 000
Fax: + 44 203 2012 001
Email: in...@london2012.com

**To read the entire newspaper article from The Times, visit:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article3427996.ece

**To find more information on the Olympic Games, visit:
http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp

Letter writing campaigns can make a world of difference to those who
cannot speak for themselves! Please speak up for our furry friends
by
contacting the International Olympic Committee today!

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Alley Cat Rescue (ACR) works to protect cats on several levels:
locally through rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption of cats and
nationally, through a network of Cat Action Teams. ACR is dedicated
to
the health, well-being, and welfare of all cats: domestic, stray,
abandoned, and feral. ACR also assists the international animal
community.