Dog & Cat Eating in China

The Facts

• What is fundamental to the practice of dog and cat eating is that the cruelty is often deliberate and slaughter methods are designed to intensify and prolong the suffering in the misguided belief that 'torture equals taste'.
• In situations where the torture is not deliberate, the method of slaughter is still tragically cruel. Markets in China, reveal killing methods which leave both dogs and cats suffering a lingering, violent death as they are either bludgeoned over the head, stabbed in the neck or groin, hung, electrocuted or thrown conscious into drums of boiling water.
• There are numerous conflicting beliefs regarding dog eating, for example dogs are eaten in the summer months in Korea to cool the body down, whilst in China they are eaten in the winter to warm the body.
• In Korea, contrary to popular belief, dog eating is a relatively recent phenomenon and has never been a part of their culinary history. The fabrication of dog and cat meat as an age-old part of Korean cultural heritage is a marketing strategy by unscrupulous vendors who are exploiting an easy to produce commodity.
• Dogs are eaten in large numbers in China and Korea, and on a smaller scale in parts of Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Myanmar, the Asian portions of the former Soviet Union, Thailand and Vietnam. In many of these countries the practice is less than a few generations old.
• Cats are eaten in Southern China, Korea and some parts of Indonesia.
• ANIMAL PEOPLE estimates that 13-16 million dogs and 4 million cats are butchered each year for human consumption in Asia, as of 2003.
• It is estimated that as many as 30% of the dogs sold for food in Korea are stolen pets.
• Dog eating is illegal in Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines and was banned in Taiwan in 2001.

Arguments Against

• Culture and tradition should not be an excuse for cruelty. Just because a practice is part of a culture does not make it morally acceptable and many practices such as slavery, which were once seen as a basic right, are now widely accepted as barbaric.
• There is no scientific evidence to support claims that dog meat can improve blood flow and "chi", enhance male virility, promote kidney function and aid digestion. Dog meat is proven to be no more nutritious than that of pork or chicken.
• Recent research into rheumatoid arthritis has proven that cats are absolutely not effective in the treatment of arthritis.
  A great number of dogs seen in the markets have collars on - an indication that they may have once been someone's pet. The argument that there are two types of dog - 'pets' and 'meat', is redundant as pure breeds and pets are seen for sale as meat in the markets. It is also estimated that a large portion of the cats seen in the markets are also stolen pets.
• Arguments that a dog or cat is no different to a chicken, a cow or even a frog, fail to address the core fact that no government in the world has devised a way of killing dogs humanely for commercial purposes.
• A Hong Kong Government Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Veterinary representative has stated that dogs cannot be humanely raised and slaughtered for food.
  As carnivores, dogs and cats are inherently different in temperament and physiology to domestic livestock species more commonly raised intensively en-masse for food.
• Humans have historically never kept carnivores as livestock animals, partly because of the difficulty in raising them and perhaps also because of the increased risk of disease that can be transmitted from animal to human.
• Regulating the trade would provide only a superficial solution and give dog and cat eating a façade of respectability, whilst allowing the suffering to continue behind closed doors.

Friends....or Food? Why Dogs & Cats Deserve Better.pdf

http://www.animalsasia.org/