People around the globe are constantly checking new reports about the coronavirus outbreak that started in Wuhan, China. As the virus spread globally, there had been talks of coronavirus in pets which is alarming for many. With that, Chinese mainlanders mistakenly think the coronavirus in pets is a serious threat.
Theories indicate that the origin of the virus is the local market that sold various wildlife in the ground zero of the pandemic. Most of the wildlife were a mixture of endangered and non-endangered species, with some near extinction.
Knowing that animals are involved, people also think that the virus can be spread to their pets. Although this is another coronavirus fake new, it prompted pet owners to dispose their cats and dogs in a cruel method. Mainland Chinese are now panicking due to the lack of credible information until now. Streets of Wuhan, Tianjin are literally raining cats and dogs as an aftermath of panicked Chinese who are culling their pets. Unfortunately, the streets are the scene of the pets dying wherein residents can see animal's bloody bodies on the streets.
Drivers have to be extra careful because of the dead animals on the streets. An incident reports a tire explosion which was caused by a dog lying on the ground. This has caused a commotion in the neighborhood where it happened.
According to the Sun, the paranoia of pets acquiring corona virus has prompted Shanghainese to hurl five cats several stories up. They were identified as owned pets because they were clean, not strays.
Dr Li Lanjuan said that pets, if having contact with possible patients should be isolated. But this statement was sensationalized by a local TV saying that cats and dogs can be carriers of the corona virus. Misunderstanding the statement and context taken from logic has caused less discerning mainlanders to think it was valid.
Also read: 5N1 Bird Flu Hits China Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak
News travels fast and the story is going viral on social media especially when Weibo took the story which pretty much added to the paranoia about corona virus. But China Global Television Network posted a comment from WHO to end the fakes news that resulted into taking animal lives unnecessarily. WHO made a definite statement that cats and dogs cannot acquire the corona virus.
All these events have caught the attention of PETA's press officer Keith Guo in China. He said that those who killed the animals should be caught, and cited a few more things in his statement. In the ground zero in Wuhan, all the animal farms that have unsupervised slaughterhouses, and sources of meat are potential places that might produce deadly diseases.
Before the corona virus, there was the SARS, bird flu and other diseases that have crossed over the Chinese borders. Now, it is the Corona virus that has everyone worried, as the next great pandemic like the Bubonic plaque.
The coronavirus is now in most parts of China and 22 other countries across the globe. The death toll stands at 304 persons, as of this writing. Statistics by the World Health Organization have estimated that 15,000 were victimized by the contagion, which prompted a declaration of a global health emergency. Fears of corona virus in pets are unfound as the WHO made quite succinctly.
