Japan Dog Craze Leads To Genetic Defects
January 8th 2007 12:50
I love animals. I don't mean sexually hey. I love my pets and I treat them like they're my children so reading this news upset me. The Japanese are so extreme that they really fucked up the poor animals.
Read the entire article in NY Times
Also check out the slideshow.
Rampant inbreeding has given Japanese dogs some of the highest rates of genetic defects in the world, sometimes four times higher than in the United States and Europe.
These illnesses are the tragic consequences of the national penchant in Japan for turning things cute and cuddly into social status symbols. But they also reflect the fondness for piling onto fads in Japan, a nation that always seems caught in the grip of some trend or other.
“Japanese are maniacs for booms,” said Toshiaki Kageyama, a professor of veterinary medicine specializing in genetic defects at Azabu University in Sagamihara. “But people forget here that dogs aren’t just status symbols. They are living things.”
These illnesses are the tragic consequences of the national penchant in Japan for turning things cute and cuddly into social status symbols. But they also reflect the fondness for piling onto fads in Japan, a nation that always seems caught in the grip of some trend or other.
“Japanese are maniacs for booms,” said Toshiaki Kageyama, a professor of veterinary medicine specializing in genetic defects at Azabu University in Sagamihara. “But people forget here that dogs aren’t just status symbols. They are living things.”
Read the entire article in NY Times
Also check out the slideshow.
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Comment by Krystal
One thing that really makes me mad is this sort of stuff. We are all living reatures, and I believe we do all feel.