McCartney boycotts China
2005-11-28 12:32
London - Rock star Paul McCartney said on Monday he will never perform in China after watching a disturbing secret video of dogs and cats in a market being slaughtered for fur.
The video, from the German branch of the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), shows caged dogs in wire cages being hurled from the top deck of a converted double-decker bus onto a concrete pavement at a market in southern Chinese.
In another piece of footage, cats are seen squirming inside a sack before being thrown into a vat of boiling water. Smiling, laughing workers are also filmed senselessly beating the animals to death.
The animals, including some Peta said appeared to have been stolen from their owners, were also seen being skinned for their fur to be used in garments for export aboard.
"This is barbaric. Horrific. It's like something out of the dark ages. And they seem to get a kick out of it. They're just sick, sick people," McCartney told BBC television in an interview to be aired on Monday.
"I wouldn't even dream of going over there to play, in the same way that I wouldn't go to a country that supported apartheid (in South Africa)," the former Beatle said. "This is just disgusting."
McCartney's wife Heather and designer daughter Stella are both active in Peta, which posted the video on its British website (www.peta.org.uk).
- AFP