Chinese gangs selling poison darts to target dogs for restaurant menus

‘The use of poison to catch dogs for the meat trade is a cruelty that very often sees beloved pets targeted’

MORE than 200,000 poisoned syringes were sold in China to gangs that hunted dogs on the street and traded their meat with restaurants.

Eight gang members who sold the darts in 20 regions across the China were arrested, Xinhua news agency said. Police discovered a tonne of dead dogs, which had been killed by the syringes, at a cold storage near the lair of the gang in the eastern province of Anhui, local media reported.

“Police said the chemical can also harm people who eat the poisoned dogs,” the Xinhua report added.

The syringes contained a dose of the muscle relaxant suxamethonium that was large enough to kill the dogs instantly. The Xinhua report said: “Police said the needles were modified with a spring and a tail fin at the rear so they could be shot like a dart.” The investigation into the gang began in September when police were tipped off by a postal worker who came across a suspicious package. They discovered 200 syringes, and arrested the man who it was being delivered to in Huainan city, in Anhui. Police then arrested two accomplices who shot the dogs, before finding a ton of frozen dogs at a nearby cold storage unit, according to Anhui net, a news portal.

Police also raided the gang’s workshop in central China’s Hubei Province, where they arrested another five men who were making the syringes.

They also discovered at the site four kilograms of the chemical powder, 10,000 needles and 100,000 yuan (£11,300) cash, Xinhua said. Wendy Higgins, from the Humane Society International, said: “The use of poison to catch dogs for the meat trade is a cruelty that very often sees people’s beloved pets targeted, and the animals involved can suffer enormously.”

China is the world’s largest consumer of dog meat. An estimated 10million are eaten each year, most of them believed to be strays or pets.