A Tauranga woman's battle to stop St Bernard dogs ending up on dinner plates in China is creating a storm in cyberspace.
Elly Maynard launched a petition to prevent the practice a year ago after learning of the dogs' import and slaughter in China for human consumption.
She has gathered 350,000 handwritten signatures so far and a number of organisations with a total membership of 1.7 million people have also backed the petition.
But last Friday night, the petition was put on the internet, prompting a virtual tsunami of e-mailed signatures.
By today, Mrs Maynard has received more than 40,000 signatures e-mailed from all corners of the world, including Russia, the United Arab Emirates and many European countries, and there is no sign of the flood abating.
"I'm in total shock. It makes last year look like a Sunday school picnic," she said today.
Mrs Maynard said the UN organisation had already stated China was contravening laws by importing St Bernards because dogs were not on its list of edible animals.
- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES
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