Sidelining separatists

Pet owner rams truck to get dog back, beats driver, causes hours of congestion

Animal lovers who were hurt when trying to rescue 320 dogs by ramming a truck driving down an expressway in Langfang, North China’s Hebei Province were sent to a local hospital for treatment, traffic police said Monday.

The three dog protectors also beat the truck driver after they stopped the truck carrying 320 dogs that was on its way from Jiaozuo, Central China’s Henan Province to Yanji, Northeast China’s Jilin Province on Saturday, Langfang’s high- speed police said in a statement released on their Sina Weibo account.

One of the trio surnamed Zhang, a resident of Tianjin, told the Beijing Times newspaper that she decided to act when she was told in a chat group for animal lovers that her lost pet was on the truck.

Zhang and two others who volunteered to help decided to stop the truck, which allegedly had been used for trafficking dogs for a long time, after they called Hebei police but received no response, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The trio hit the truck with their car to stop it, and the re- sulting wreckage caused hours of congestion on the expressway, said the report.

High- speed police set up several tents to shelter the dogs and the case was transferred to the public security bureau of nearby Dacheng county for further investigation, said the statement. Zhang claims that her dog was indeed on the truck.

This is just the latest case of animal rights activists stopping a truck on an expressway in violation of traffic law and sparking discontent over risks posed to public safety.

Photo: CFP Hongkongers hold a rally protesting “Hong Kong independence” and expressing their support for the National People’s Congress’s interpretation of the region’s Basic Law outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on November 13.