Opinion | Striped Shanghai puppies painted with chemicals to dupe shoppers

This is Tiger. He is not some weird rare breed of pole cat; he is a tiny black puppy, dyed with chemicals by Shanghai traders to make him look like a rare breed. 

Sadly, often Shanghai “rescue” organisations and shelters turn out to be profit-making scams or fronts for the fur and dog and cat meat market. Others are well-meaning hoarders who end up swamped with a thousand or more animals crammed in cages. Such is the enormity of the unwanted animal problem in cities like Shanghai.

When puppies like Tiger are bleached, the chemicals burn their skin and eyes. Many of the young pups die, being already sick with deadly Parvo virus or distemper. Armstrong says painted puppies are common.

“We lost another striped one to distemper and another female survived and thrived in foster care and was adopted,” says Armstrong. Her organisation SCAA has no shelter – “shelters fill up immediately,” she says. Instead SCAA operate with volunteers who foster stray animals until responsible owners can be found to adopt them. They save and find homes for about 80 cats and dogs a year, relying solely on donations and fund raising to pay vet and food bills.

Pets are big business   

Along with China’s embrace of all things international has come a burgeoning pet industry, with pedigree dogs selling in pet shops and local vet clinics for RMB8,000 to RMB25,000, depending on the breed. Breeding dogs in China are kept in horrific conditions and puppies separated from mothers when too young, for maximum cuteness. If they survive and are unsold past the “cute” stage, even pure bred pups are chucked into the garbage or dumped on the street by shop owners.