The World Health Organization expressed concerns at China's plan to kill 10,000 civet cats in a bid to curb a new outbreak of the deadly SARS virus. Photo by cnn.com
The World Health Organization has expressed caution at China's plan to kill 10,000 civet cats, suspected SARS carriers. The WHO is afraid that a reckless culling of the civets could eliminate evidence of the origins of the disease. Civet cats -- which are not actually felines -- are a weasel-like creature considered a delicacy in wild game restaurants in southern China. Unlike influenza, SARS has no known treatment and little is known of its origins other than it sprang up in Guangdong province in November 2002.