[Maven]

China is making keychains that are little pouches filled with a small amount of water and a little animal like a (baby, probably) turtle or fish! The animals, the article says, can live up to two months. Two months, not being able to swim anywhere, breathe fresh air, eat, or move! I'm appalled! WTF is wrong with China? I keep hearing sick crap about them. Surely there are good people in China who will fight against this sort of thing?

The Making of Cruel Live Animal Keychains In China | Funky Downtown

[Travelinglady]

The sad part about it is that some people buy them!

[TheDragon]

Profits and apathy rule China. There's not exactly a lot of activism in China, although it does exist. There are some animal rights groups, but they're mostly ignored by everyone.

[Puffyprue]

Thats super sick and cruel

So sick and cruel

That's pretty vile.
Hip Asian kids will buy them up.
Western cultures likely won't allow import.
The world is a big place.
Life is cheap in many countries...
meaning the struggles for existence and the realities involved,
are much more than we can imagine.

China..infants under one yr...mortality rate {all stats 2012}...15.62 ______per 1000 births.

Canada....4.85
US...5.98
United Kingdom...4.56
Germany...3.51
Japan...2.21
South Korea...4.08

China is nowhere near the upper extremes...but it's clear in it's implications. Where life is cheaper, outrages to us, are merely a way to get by for others.

What some people do to get by in the tougher parts of this world, does of course [or should] elicit much more outrage in us than the upset over this keychain thing. To us their seeming cruelty or 'lack of morality' etc. are livings part and parcel for these folks . 15 deaths per 1000 is a pretty bad number compared to many self sufficient nations. They're not squeamish...you lose that fairly quickly in a poor and competitive society.

Hey...some countries have rates that exceed 100+ per thousand. A live turtle in a keychain pales to what some people have to do in an attempt to merely be alive. Their views on life death and the universe are in fact practical. Try harder because you have to is the rule that dominates. Because you just have to.

China has a history of poverty...sometimes extreme poverty. Living decades and longer like that produces certain realities. Ones we've forgotten but our forefathers were somewhat familiar with in many cases.

Sorry...I don't enjoy thinking about the keychain thing either but I think we have to understand as much as possible how and why some things are. Rather than just being offended and depressed over them. Knowing the hows and whys don't necessarily make anything right or justifiable. OR change ones own principles...but it makes the picture clearer and not quite as damning to ones self perhaps. Helps other ways too...potential to foment change blah blah blah but this is running long and getting beyond fish/turtle keychains...

I dunno...I see it all that way anyway. Ranted all that to iron it out in my own mind more than anything else. Wasn't trying to be smartassed or preachy...

Oh that is so sick and sad.

[KUREHA]

That's just wrong

[big zero]

Thank you, QuizzickleII. I couldn't have said it better myself. A little perspective never hurts.

I'm an animal lover and I do not condone this, in any way. I really hope the people who make these 'keychains' will be shut down and punished soon enough. I mean, to see those turtles like that... good grief

By the way, don't forget that sicker things are done to animals and marketed as "art" in the Western world, too. Like this, for instance: (TRIGGER WARNING) "Artist" Leaves Dog To Die on Exhibition Display - Softpedia [spoiler: the dog was freed, if I'm not mistaken]

I don't understand why people do this kind of things. Animals are living things just like we are... and yes, sometimes it's necessary to kill them, but cruelty like this... I'm beyond appalled.

That's sick and unbelievable...what is this world coming to

[AAAAA]

I do not understand why. Although a beta fish may actually live a lot longer than that. Not one of my best human moments but when our children were young our middle son wanted a beta fish. The pet store did not have the vases or plants that you usually set them up with, so we brought him home in a tiny little plastic box, with the intention of buying the vase and plant when they came in. We did buy him food. Well I was cleaning their room later that day and I put the fish on the shelf in their closet so I didn't accidentally knock it over. I placed it carefully between Winnie the Pooh and Tigger on the shelf. Well that poor little bugger was up there for a month! I'd forgotten all about him! I felt horrible! I immediately got him the vase and plant and he lived for years!

[-jimi-]

This is quite tangible and shocks people. What about the food industry? What about the "civilized" countries destroying the whole planet?

[Maven]

Some things in China and around the world might be explainable by the things they've gone through, but I do not accept it as an excuse for cruelty. It's outrageous!

Big zero, if I understood that article correctly, the dog did die. There was a second dog, though, which I believe was saved. How could anyone be so cruel? Why is such cruelty tolerated?

AAAAA, I'm so glad your fish lived! I didn't know they could live that long without food (or light?).

[big zero]

Really? The only dog I knew about was the one that was rescued. I thought the story was about that one. I didn't know there was another one who died...

[AAAAA]

Originally Posted by Maven

Some things in China and around the world might be explainable by the things they've gone through, but I do not accept it as an excuse for cruelty. It's outrageous!

Big zero, if I understood that article correctly, the dog did die. There was a second dog, though, which I believe was saved. How could anyone be so cruel? Why is such cruelty tolerated?

AAAAA, I'm so glad your fish lived! I didn't know they could live that long without food (or light?).

There was light, we removed the doors from the closet to make it more functional. But the poor little bugger went without food for too long.