The Plight Of "handbag" Dogs In Japan

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

What an awful story this is from Japan, one woman doing her best to help. There needs to be a massive cultural change and education program by the sound of it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2285606/Victims-fashion-fad-Bred-satisfy-celeb-craze-handbag-dogs-hope-courageous-British-woman.html

Victims of a fashion fad: Bred in Japan to satisfy a celebrity craze for 'handbag' dogs, their only hope is one courageous British woman

Gangs snatch puppies off their mothers from as early as one week old

Display them in pet shops where small dogs with painted nails are fashion hit

In Japan, breeding dogs even more profitable than drugs and prostitution

Dogs rescued from breeders are killed if new owner cannot be found in week

Surging forward in desperation after weeks without food or water, these forlorn, whimpering dogs were left to die in filth by gangsters cashing in on the celebrity craze for handbag-size dogs.

In another haunting photograph taken minutes after a raid on an illicit breeding den, the pleading eyes of a bulldog whose neck narrowly fits through the wire struts of his cage tell a harrowing story of cruelty and neglect.

The malnourished pedigree dogs were unwanted breeding stock for an underground industry netting millions of pounds a year for criminal gangs until their rescue by one remarkable British woman.

Left to die: Whimpering dogs that have been used to breed puppies. They were left without food or water when their gangster owner abandoned them in their filthy illicit den

Elizabeth Oliver, 70, last year awarded an MBE, has spent 20 years battling against their inhumane treatment by Japanese breeders, and the authorities who turn a blind eye.

Mrs Oliver, director of Animal Rescue Kansai, is bravely taking on a complex network overseen by the notorious Yakuza mafia, who have found breeding dogs even more profitable than drugs and prostitution.

The ruthless gangs snatch cute puppies off their mothers from as early as one week old so they can be displayed in gaudy pet shops, where small dogs with painted nails are the must-have fashion accessory a Western trend popularised by celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Adele, Donatella Versace and model Miranda Kerr.

The dogs are left to breed among themselves in tiny apartments, says Mrs Oliver, originally from Somerset. Then, one day, the breeders realise they have too many and that theyre too big to sell and just go. A lot of gangsters will be arrested for an unrelated crime and the dogs get left behind. Sometimes these places are so filthy you cant step inside.

Ive been chasing one breeder for years. When we went to his premises on the southern island of Kyushu, we found dead and dying dogs everywhere. It was absolutely appalling.

There were hundreds of dogs crammed into tiny cages. They were underweight, with terrible skin conditions. The breeder had just left them and locked the door behind him.

For these gangsters dog breeding has become very lucrative. They were into drugs, guns and prostitutes, but now they are all into dog breeding.

One of them tried to attack me; I had to run for my life. He was prosecuted eventually, and he was banned from breeding. The penalty was a fine of about £2,000, not a proper penalty.

He is still breeding now. People had been complaining, but the authorities did absolutely nothing.

Even when the authorities are persuaded to intervene, the freed dogs face a terrible fate, sent to a mechanised death row where they are allowed one weeks grace for a new owner to emerge. After that, they are gassed in a steel container called a dream box.

A Daily Mail investigation has uncovered new details of what is effectively a state-sanctioned policy of extermination. At the animal welfare centre in Tokushima, recently built for £16 million, death-row dogs are placed into a special truck to be gassed off site before being cremated.

The impressive building is set in landscaped parkland with a playground and picnic tables on the front lawn. It does a remarkable job of disguising its true purpose.

On the day our reporter received a tour, some of the native Japanese Shiba Inu dogs had two days left before the metal bars to the rear of their cages would slide up to announce the end of their lives.

Seeming to have a tantalising glimpse of freedom, the animals will then walk unknowingly into a narrow steel corridor in which a separate metal plate nudges them forward.

At the touch of a button, they are forced to step into a container called a dream box, which will soon be filled with noxious carbon dioxide.

The box, on which the soothing Japanese word for sleep has been written, is lowered into a waiting truck. Once the lorry has moved calmly off the premises, the gassing begins, activated by a vet at a control desk. It takes approximately two minutes for the animals to die and then be driven off for cremation. Up to 20 are killed here every working day.

As Mrs Oliver says, Outside its like a Disneyland; inside its like Auschwitz. They have spent millions coming up with a system so they can press a button to gas the dogs, and no one knows where it is taking place.

When Mrs Oliver arrived in Japan 40 years ago, she was shocked by how little her adopted country cares for stray and unwanted animals.

The tiny, chic dogs are flavour of the month, she says. It has been a boom over the past ten to 15 years. They are all trying to breed the smallest one, the kind of dogs you can fit in a tea cup like Chihuahuas.

A lot of them are being bred for unusual colours or markings, too. What are essentially genetic defects are considered desirable. People like that, and they dont think they will have big problems with that dog when they buy it; they just think: Oh, thats cute, it matches my bag.

These puppies are shampooed, they are blow-dried and they have their nails painted. But their feet dont touch the ground, so they have no muscles. They can barely walk.

Mrs Olivers current favourite among the 180 animals at her sprawling sanctuary for rescued dogs is a three-legged stray nicknamed Wireless.

He got his moniker after being found with a wire noose embedded in his leg. Vets at the sanctuary had to amputate the limb. Just one more victim of this sickeningly cruel trade.

Edited February 28, 2013 by dogmad

[Ruin Maniac]

Horrifying. Urgh. Why don't people research? Picking up these puppies wouldn't be so glamorous if they had to do so witnessing the conditions these poor dogs are kept in.

But classic DM comments down the bottom there, ANYONE WHO PAYS MONEY FOR A DOG IS DEMON SPAWN/DOG BREEDING IS ALWAYS LIKE THIS IT'S JUST MASS PRODUCTION IN JAPAN THAT MAKES IT LOOK WORSE. Sigh.

[melzawelza]

Yeah, I totally lost it in Japan when I walked in to a pet shop two weeks in. I can't describe how upsetting it was. Tiny sickly puppies each in an individual glass box they could barely turn around in. The walls were just made of glass box upon glass box stacked to the roof with an individual puppy (that looked about 5 weeks old) in each one. Puppies spinning and spinning because they are so isolated and bored, can barely move. Nothing in the box except shredded paper to entertain them.

I had had a great time until that point and was in awe of Japan as a country... seeing that took away the rose coloured glasses that's for sure.

Edited February 28, 2013 by melzawelza

[persephone]

This should be in the 'abuse section"

[BC Crazy]

OMG !! I had no idea this was going on.

Melzawelza must have been very traumatic to witness such horror. Poor little puppies

Deeply saddening ......

[melzawelza]

OMG !! I had no idea this was going on.

Melzawelza must have been very traumatic to witness such horror. Poor little puppies

Deeply saddening ......

It was really, really awful. I think I started a thread here. We were wandering around looking for dessert and needless to say I couldn't eat afterwards (and that is BIG DEAL!)

The worst was the older puppies that hadn't been sold, they were about 14 weeks old. They were just a matted mess, three of them in a small cage on the ground that they again couldn't really move around in. One toileted then immediately turned around and ate it. I sat next to them on the ground and squeezed my fingers through the bars to try and scratch one, who just pushed her whole body up against me and looked at me. I'll never forget her eyes

[Chezy]

[BC Crazy]

My eyes are leaking too. I bet the poor littley's eye's will haunt you forever Mel. How could this bloody cruelty continue ? :(

[melzawelza]

My eyes are leaking too. I bet the poor littley's eye's will haunt you forever Mel. How could this bloody cruelty continue ? :(

They really will. I told her I was sorry. Then I told the man running the shop exactly what I thought of him. I don't think he could understand me though. It was 10.30 at night too, all re bright lights still on (one in the top of each glass box) so they couldn't sleep properly.

Japan is an incredible country in so many ways but their animal welfare is just horrendous in many different ways. It was hard to reconcile what I was seeing with the rest of what I had seen in the country and been so impressed by.

The flip side to these horrendous pet shops was pet supply stores FULL of outfits. Baskets, beds, trinkets... Everything you could possibly imagine buying for your pet and more. Very strange parallel.

ETA: found the pictures I took. These do not even come close to showing how horrendous it was. That just couldn't translate to picture.

This little one wasn't moving at all, seemed very sick.

Trying to get away from the bright lights. Imagine these boxes just lining the walls from floor to roof. I wish I took a picture showing the whole wall.

This little one was older and bigger so the box was so small for him. He was digging on the glass trying to get to us and crying.

Edited March 1, 2013 by melzawelza

[Christina]

This should be in the 'abuse section"

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do.

[Ruin Maniac]

This should be in the 'abuse section"

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do.

People in Australia abuse dogs in different ways. If I lived and bred dogs in a particularly dog-friendly country in Europe and looked at the average Australian dog owner as an example I'd be hesitant to send it here. It's because some individuals in Japan do care about dogs, don't like this trend and know how to do things properly. Like anywhere, really. Supplying these shops or puppy farmers though is a different story (granted, we do that here too). A good friend of mine in Japan imported a Pom she named "Sora" and he couldn't be in a better home.

[BC Crazy]

Omg.. Mel those pic's poor little puppies

Way beyond cruel. They make me feel really very sad at the thought of the sheer mental torture they must be feeling from the total isolation of those shocking "living" conditions

Edited March 3, 2013 by BC Crazy

[raz]

This should be in the 'abuse section"

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do.

please stop generalising! There are plenty of disgusting petshops in Australia. Are you going to judge the entire country as well?

[Christina]

This should be in the 'abuse section"

I felt sick after reading this the other day. Why would any breeder send dogs to a country that treats its animals this way ? Yet still they do.

please stop generalising! There are plenty of disgusting petshops in Australia. Are you going to judge the entire country as well?

Its not generalising. The difference is that we do have cruelty laws here that can be enforced & most of the population would think those conditions were cruel.

In japan they don't have any laws & think this is normal. Accepted animal keeping & husbandry is so different there.

Its a culture thing not generalising or racism.

Its enough of a worry to send a puppy to its new home here, despite all we try & check sometimes it can turn out not to be the best home so I don't understand why they get sent to Japan, especially entire.

Anyone can say & give a good impression over the phone or internet.

[raz]

I lived in Japan in a very close community with most families owning pets. They were treated no differently to the way they are treated here. You're judging an entire country on the basis of crappy pop up petshops. There are and have been for decades animal welfare groups fighting these shops. If you dont want to send puppies to Japan, that's fine, but dont generalise.

And you are incorrect - Japan DOES have animal cruelty laws which is why those shops are pop ups.

Edited March 5, 2013 by raz

[mita]

Interesting article from the Japan Times. There are concerns from some members of the Japanese public & organisations like the Japanese Veterinary Assoiation that animal welfare laws in that country need to be upgraded. But one planned law to regularise the ages of puppies in petshops, got scuttled.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/10/07/national/animal-welfare-law-left-neutered/#.UTa8Ixw_-yM

[Christina]

I also had a browse for any info re welfare laws & if they are actually imposed.

Even here in Australia the anti cruelty/welfare laws fail for various reasons.

This was interesting, especially posts 21 & 24

http://www.jref.com/forum/japanese-news-hot-topics-4/animal-cruelty-laws-japan-do-they-exist-35033/ However its only a forum (although the posters do seem to live in Japan) so maybe they all lie.

[littlesev]

We tend to form our idea about other countries based on things we read. But just like the daily threads on dog abuse/neglect/attack here don't mean that everyone in Australia treats their dogs badly, not everyone in Japan behaves the same way. After all, the issues of handbag dogs, inhumane pet shops and lax regulations aren't exclusive to Japan. That kind of pet shops is always going to be terrible, regardless of their location.

Those pictures are so sad - I just want to hug them

[mita]

....Which is why it helps to locate exactly what credible sources in Japan say about current animal welfare laws in the country. I found the Japan Times article interesting in terms of where certain bodies wanted to see upgrading. It's not a matter of making comparisons. After all, the cry to upgrade is constant here, too. It's a matter of looking at actual information from Japan. Not greatly helped by the language barrier in accessing copies of any legislation.

[raz]

I also had a browse for any info re welfare laws & if they are actually imposed.

Even here in Australia the anti cruelty/welfare laws fail for various reasons.

This was interesting, especially posts 21 & 24

http://www.jref.com/forum/japanese-news-hot-topics-4/animal-cruelty-laws-japan-do-they-exist-35033/ However its only a forum (although the posters do seem to live in Japan) so maybe they all lie.

what a stupid inflammatory comment.