If you like dogs as I do, and you thought it was bad to see dogs being shot in New Orleans, what Chinese authorities are doing makes that look humane by comparison:

The start of the Chinese Year of the Dog is just four months away, but in the southern city of Guangzhou thousands of frightened dog owners and their pets are lying doggo after local authorities intensified a crackdown on unregistered animals.

Unlicensed dogs are being rounded up by the police and, in the past week, hundreds have been culled, some in front of their owners, by special dog-killing teams.

E-mails sent by anguished Guangzhou residents to the Hong Kong-based animal welfare group Animals Asia spoke of owners collapsing after their animals were put to death in front of them and of streets running with the blood of dead dogs. "The dog-killing team killed all the dogs they saw," reported one witness. "Their blood made the street turn red and their owners fainted. The dog-killing team showed no mercy and said it was an order from the government."

Regarded as symbols of bourgeois decadence during the Mao era and only fit for the dinner table, dogs have become increasingly fashionable as pets in China in recent years. With the one-child policy in operation in the cities, many parents buy dogs as companions for their only child, and they are a status symbol among the country's burgeoning middle classes.

No wonder the Chinese authorities have censored bloggers, and corrupted Google.

Bloody bastards.

MORE: People believing in things like government "registration" might keep in mind that in China, registration of dogs is synonymous with prohibition:

.... dog registration fees are so high in Guangzhou that only 800 of the estimated 60,000 dogs in the city are licensed. It costs the equivalent of £700 to register a dog, almost half the average salary of most Chinese, followed by a further annual fee of about £400.

Maybe I shouldn't be giving the Brady Bunch any more crackpot ideas....