China : 4,000 dogs, cats, rabbits bought online found dead

Henan: The people in China most often buy things online, including animals. Over 4000 dogs, cats, rabbits and other animals were found dead in the containers bought online. About 4000  pet animals were believed to have been bought online as domestic pets, were found dead in boxes in China, an animal welfare group said on Thursday.

The tragedy took place at a logistics hub in central China where the animals were stranded for nearly a week.  The logistic hubs are of the burgeoning e-commerce industry. This means pet can be bought online but are often illegally transported in unsafe conditions by courier companies.

Rescuers managed to save just over 1,000 rabbits, hamsters, dogs and cats but the rest had perished by the time they arrived at the Dongxing facility in Luohe, Henan province on September 22, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

NGO Utopia Animal Rescue volunteer Dan said, “We’ve done rescues before but this was the first time I had experienced something this tragic.” “When we got there, there were several small mountains of boxes containing animals. Many of them were dead and had started to rot and give off terrible smells,” added Dan.

Authorities are investigating the incident, which has again raised concerns over the lack of regulation of online pet sales in China. A burgeoning e-commerce industry means almost anything, including live animals, can be bought online but pets are often illegally transported in unsafe conditions by courier companies.