China in race to slaughter civets

SARS-wary southern China today threatened fines of up to €9,350 for merchants who try to hide civet cats, a day ahead of the deadline to slaughter thousands of the animals because of fears they carry the disease.

Guangdong province, which announced a second suspected SARS case yesterday, intensified its campaign to clean streets and wipe out civets plus other potential carriers that have been labelled the “four dangers” – rats, roaches, flies and mosquitoes.