Pets killed for food in Zimbabwe

[cboy4]

Those poor people in Africa.

You have to wonder how much wheat a trillion dollars in Iraq War money would buy.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070914/ap_on_re_af/pets_in_crisis_1

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Pets are being slaughtered for meat in shortage-stricken Zimbabwe and record numbers of animals have been surrendered to shelters or abandoned by owners no longer able to feed them, animal welfare activists say.
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The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it could not feed surrendered animals or find them new homes and was being forced to kill them and destroy the corpses.

Animals, like people, are being hard hit by Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, with official inflation of more than 7,600 percent, the highest in the world. Independent estimates put real inflation closer to 25,000 percent and the International Monetary Fund has forecast it will reach 100,000 percent by the end of the year.

Vets have run out of the drug used to put down the animals and are relying on intermittent donations from neighboring South Africa. One veterinary practice was waiting for supplies to destroy about 20 animals, and on Friday could neither feed them adequately nor fatally inject them.

[Fierce]

1. Rabbits or Bunnies

Pets or Meat for Sale.

[shance]

2. Why is this happening when it doesn't have to?

Because individuals like those of great wealth and material greed do not want to share fairly with everyone else on the planet.

It is despicable what cruelty is happening because of the narcissm and pathological wealth theft by individuals who must steal from everyone else, and because they can.

[pampango]

3. No excuse for the Iraq war; no excuse for what Mugabe has done to Zimbabwe.

He has destroyed the economy in order to enrich himself and his cronies and keep himself in power. Or is he still blaming the colonial whites for the problems that started long after he took over as president?

I assume he does not want anyone to notice how well South Africa has done since Blacks took power from Whites and have maintained a democratic government and an efficient economy, certainly compared to the cesspool he has created in Zimbabwe in order to remain president for life. Mugabe became president in 1980 and may still be blaming others for his country's problems 27 years later. Maybe that is the secret of long term dictatorial rule - externalize the blame for problems.

Blacks took control of the South African government in 1994 and have already produced a much better society. And whites had a lot longer time to screw things up in South Africa than they did in Zimbabwe. And Mugabe has had a lot longer to correct the problems he inherited from Whites if he wanted to or if he knew what he was doing.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. Zimbabwe used to be the beadbasket of Africa

See what forced collectivism does? Someone should have told Mugabe about the Great Leap Forward.

[ret5hd]

5. beadbasket:

[David__77]

9. Independence is a precious thing.

...

[ben_meyers]

6. How much of "trillions in wheat" would get past Mugabe?

I dare say not one grain would reach the starving people.

[cboy4]

8. Yes Ben, I understand, but I was talking about in theory -- in a

perfect world. Not reality.

I was also taking a shot at the war.

[cobalt1999]

7. Many famines are not the result of droughts, but political leadership

How much longer will the people of Zimbabwe put up with this guy?