China May Ban Eating Dogs And Cats

[Jed]

If sentience is what determines what we should and shouldn't eat, I think 'civilised' countries should ban eating pork. Pigs don't make good house pets, but they are amazingly smart. I'm glad to see the Chinese moving in this direction . . . but I think we need to look at what we eat as well as what others eat. Even if we continue eating bacon, we should be willing to critically look at factory farming of pigs.

Pigs make GREAT house pets. Sorry And they are as smart as a dog. Don't need grooming or registration either.

Go pigs!!

[samoyedman]

I think you will find that at least in most states of Australia its not illegal to eat dog. - as long as you dont dock its tail first.

Really?

[WreckitWhippet]

I think you will find that at least in most states of Australia its not illegal to eat dog. - as long as you dont dock its tail first.

Leaves you wondering if it's right to laugh or cry

[sandgrubber]

If sentience is what determines what we should and shouldn't eat, I think 'civilised' countries should ban eating pork. Pigs don't make good house pets, but they are amazingly smart. I'm glad to see the Chinese moving in this direction . . . but I think we need to look at what we eat as well as what others eat. Even if we continue eating bacon, we should be willing to critically look at factory farming of pigs.

Pigs make GREAT house pets. Sorry And they are as smart as a dog. Don't need grooming or registration either.

Go pigs!!

I confess, I've never had pigs, other than the human kind, in my house. Happy to retract the statement that pigs don't make good house pets.

[spottychick]

Thats what the Koreans say. The Koreans were outraged in 2002 (World Cup) when the rest of the world suggested that perhaps they should enforce their own laws. They said exactly that.

We don't beat our animals to death with metal bars, hang them (not to break the neck, but to suffocate), boil them alive, ect. Just goes to show their attitude. I dont think they make any real attempts at secrecy regarding those practices, but they just don't think it is relevant.

I think... but not 100% certain, that Westerners have been known to boil seafood alive. Supposed to enhance the flavour or sommat.

Just sayin'

[Zhou Xuanyao]

The stuff they do is like something out of a freddy kruger movie. Commenting in this thread today has put those images in my head again, just makes me want to go hug my dog. Its going to take atleast a generation to start changing people and thats if they start now and enforce the rules strictly.

[sandgrubber]

I think we all appreciate the comments of someone who has been there. For most of us, Asia is someplace far away and very different.

I have travelled in Asia and at one time my Chinese (Mandarin) wasn't too bad, but I haven't been offered anything more disgusting than chicken/fish heads and feet/fins and boa constictor and chrysanthamum soup.

Sounds like you have a much different story.

[Dracdog]

There was an artical on the news the other night about a bloke in Qld who is now exporting Cane Toad parts to the Chinese for the dinner table. Mabye it is the replacement for Dog & Cat.

[GeckoTree]

I think it's all talk.

[Tempus Fugit]

If you want to learn more about the factory farming of meat dogs in China, do a Google search on the chinese phrase "edible dogs". Use Google's 'translate' facility to translate the phrase from english to Chinese characters, paste the chinese characters into the search box and search. Then use Google's 'translate' facility to translate the chinese search results back into english.

You will find the web sites of meat dog farms eg www.hnyxyz.com , http://www.rougouyz.com/, http://www.fankuai.com/ plus heaps of material from the chinese equivalents of our state agriculture departments on how to raise meat dogs, including technical papers, On-line videos and books that you can order on line.

Rott vealers: " German Shepherd lambs for the chop:

Apparently the male pups are castrated at 8 weeks (no anaesthetic) and are then either confined to crates or chained up to pillars or posts as per the photos to resrict their movement in order to convert as much food intake as possible into body mass, as well as to prevent fighting. At between 4-8 months of age, the fateened pups are sent to market for slaughter.

In some cases, as well as being fed growth hormones, a technique called 'narcotic fattening' is used whereby the puppies are drugged with barbiturates or other appetite enhancing narcotics into a wake-eat-sleep routine to further reduce movement and accelerate fattening - (the fatter the pup, the fatter the profits). The narcotic also keeps the dogs quiet so they don't disturb the neighbours.

Studs and bitches used for breeding are luckier? in that they are not sent to market until they are around 8 years old - before their meat gets too tough.

If the above disgusts you, consider supporting Animals Asia Foundation or similar organisations that campaign against dog meat eating.

[whippets]

*Waits for the 'but we kill cows, no diff' argument*.

Thats what the Koreans say. The Koreans were outraged in 2002 (World Cup) when the rest of the world suggested that perhaps they should enforce their own laws. They said exactly that.

We don't beat our animals to death with metal bars, hang them (not to break the neck, but to suffocate), boil them alive, ect. Just goes to show their attitude. I dont think they make any real attempts at secrecy regarding those practices, but they just don't think it is relevant.

Sounds like a racist proclaimation to me.

'They' is a billion plus people spread out over an area much larger than Australia, with a history that goes back well before our year 0. No question some awful things happen, and some authorities turn a blind eye. But I think you need to be careful about generalising.

I don't think dog fighting is popular in either China or Korea (though it seems to have some history in Japan???) . . . it's illegal here, but from what I can see, the law doesn't do much to obliterate it. Is blood sport more humane than tenderising an animal while it is live? Yuck. Both are detestable. The 'eating' tradition, at least, doesn't seem to have a group of people getting their rocks off by watching an animal suffer . . . and thus feeding into child abuse, spouse abuse, and a bunch of other ugly things.

Doesn't get their rocks off by seeing an animal suffer?

Find out how the bile is taken from a bear and the foot, how it is prepared with the bear still there (alive) and the men eating the parts. Find out why they keep the suffering bear alive during the whole act. Then tell me about what you think of that kind of stupid superstitions.

Same goes for bullfighting but that is another story.

[mumof3]

I agree, it is more important that good animal welfare practices are used in the raising and slaughter of meat, than what species the animal is. And yes, some species are more easily handled with good animal welfare practices than others. I don't like intensive farming of most species, pigs, chooks, cattle, sheep. This is for both the animal welfare point of view, and due to my concern over the use of additional chemicals, anitbiotics etc in intesively farmed stock. Personally, though, I think I'll stick with normal western foods and avoid eating dogs cats and horses.

I'd like to put forward the idea, too, that ideals of high standards of animal welfare are linked to a society being reasonably wealthy, and that the evolution from seeing animals as stock to seeing them as living creatures who have rights is something that our society has been through, and continues to go through. It is always good to see another country moving towards consideration of animal welfare. We should remember too, that in many countries, the plight of women and children is much worse than the plight of animals. Human rights matter too (though of course, this is a purebred dog community forum).

[blacklabrador]

I worry far more about the conditions that any food animal is kept in and how it is slaughtered than the species itself.

One man's pet is another man's food.

;) ;)

We freely eat animals which are not only valued but religiously sacred in other cultures.

It's the way that the Chinese treat and kill some dogs which is extremely upsetting. Torturing them to increase the "power" of the meat once the dog is dead, keeping them in terrible conditions etc.

[BichonCrazy]

This is f***ing sick!

I hope they( The killers & eaters) all die horrible deaths for what these people (The killers & eaters) have done!

[Longdog]

I am not a vegetarian so will eat meat once/twice a week. The meat I eat has been selected from a butcher after travelling 1 hour (bunburyWA). His meat (beef and lamb) is from his father's property where the animals are allowed to graze happily and without hormones (yes, most farmers in Austraia now use hormones in their animals). The animals are killed on the farm without stress. Not only am I eating animals that have not been traumatized/stressed but ironically I am also eating beautiful tender meat. I ethically decided to stop eating pork about 10 years ago - I too know how intelligent the pig is and how related their flesh is to human flesh.

The point I am making is that NO ONE has the right to kill any animal if they do not respect the life and care that they should be undertaking for the animal. It is this point that I have a problem with dog eating, dophin/whale killing & horse brumby (WA) culling. We need to get our act together and start having an overall social conscience to put a stop to cruelty.

[whippets]

I agree with you. I am a meat eater as well. We know where our meat comes from and I don't buy meat from chain grocers.

Watch River Cottage and you'll see what I mean when I say how animals should be treated.

[Longdog]

Yes, Whippet, River Cottage and Jamie Oliver have both done excellent shows on battey hen farming and constantly emphasise free-range for all stock. By the by, our dog also has free-range meat including her chicken wings (for teeth cleaning). I'm sure she is proud of the fact!! (and sayin that she is a very healthy little dog....maybe something more than just ethical!!)

Also, isn't there a problem with hepatitis (not sure which one) and dog meat? Apparently, one of the reasons you should be vegetarian in countries that allow dog meat for human consumption.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Longdog

[Shaar]

I don't eat any animals that are considered predators.

Cows, chickens, sheep etc are all considered 'prey' animals... they don't feed off meat and they don't hunt.

Dogs ARE predators, and they do hunt, so they are off my menu.

Probably doesn't make sense to anyone, but that's my warped view of it anyway.

[Kirislin]

I worry far more about the conditions that any food animal is kept in and how it is slaughtered than the species itself.

One man's pet is another man's food.

Same here, and that goes for animals in Australia too, although I am pretty sure I wouldn't knowingly eat dog or cat, even if it was humanely slaughtered.

[Little Gifts]

I have very mixed feelings on all this. For about 15 years I was a vegetarian, mainly because I never looked a raw meat and thought mmmm yummy a nice steak for dinner. All I saw was lumps of raw meat rather than food so I gave up bothering. I eat it again now but only when the mood strikes.

From when I was 17 to about 25 I lived in Hong Kong, China and here in Australia in asian communities. I know I ate a lot of non-traditional animals including a lot of dog. Back then I was surrounded by strange food options, people who loved to eat those strange foods and conditions that saw what we might consider a pet treated as a commercial product. I commonly saw 'chow dogs' confined to boats and when they were at the right age the family would slaughter and eat them. I saw snakes and frogs killed in front of me, skinned, gutted and sold for cooking. I saw sharks fins and bears paws for sale in markets, I ate turtle from its huge upturned turtle shell, there were plastic containers on the dirty streets containing fish that had to swim on their sides to keep covered by the shallow water. The two worst was the whole fish dipped in boiling oil and served at our table still kicking (which I ate some of) and the live monkey whose skull was sliced off at the restaurant table so everyone could pick out and eat its brains while they were still 'live' (I did not participate in this but my chinese father in law at the time did).

I feel bad about all this being an animal lover but know that my asian experiences were really about me trying to desperatly fit in with everyone else. I was the only caucasian and foreigner amongst a myriad of locals and didn't know what else to do but eat what everone else did and try to ignore the conditions the animals were kept in. This kind of thing is not morally right in Australia but every other country has its own view on what is food and how it is treated. I was in Morocco 3 years back I ate camel several times and bought a camel belt. Some people would be horrified but camel is a regular food over there so I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary in that country.

I wouldn't eat any of these things out here - I don't even buy leather shoes. And I do care how my meat is killed here in Australia. Hence my mixed feelings on this issue in regards to other cultures and countries. I'm not sure I can tell them what they should and shouldn't do.