By the Animals Asia Foundation

Editor’s Note: The Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), a Hong Kong-based charity, is best known for its work to rescue moon bears from bile farms in China and Vietnam.

HONG KONG – Unhygienic transport and slaughter conditions for dogs (and cats) sold as food in parts of Asia pose a big risk to public health.

Animals Asia Foundation representative Irene Feng says that along with being horrendously cruel, the trade and consumption of dog-meat represents another “food scandal waiting to happen”. She was responding to reports about a new book, The Long March to Space by “national hero” Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space.

"When Yang Liwei revealed recently that China's space team included dog-meat in their diet, I was a little shocked," Feng said. "So many health risks are associated with the farming, slaughter and consumption of dogs. I hope our national space team considers these issues."

The dog-meat trade raises risks of various diseases like cholera, rabies and trichinellosis, all transferable to humans. "We believe that in some areas, teams of dog killers use cyanide to poison dogs before selling them to meat markets," Feng said.

Dog farms create ideal conditions for microbes to reproduce, affecting animals already weakened by poor health and bad conditions. The trade and movement of dogs across long distances heighten the risks of disease transmission.

"Many dogs in the meat market are stolen or abandoned pets rounded up from the streets," Feng said. "They are terrified and fight back when traders catch them, so the cruelty involved in their capture is terrible. They are beaten and clamped around the necks with metal hooks.

"Dogs are our friends," she added. "They don't belong on dinner tables."

AAF founder Jill Robinson said cruelty in the dog-meat trade can’t be ignored. “Dogs piled on top of each other in tiny cages are driven for days on the backs of trucks in the freezing temperatures of winter without cover, or in the scorching heat of summer with no water or shade. When finally reaching the meat markets, they face more days of terror before brutal deaths.

“Yang Liwei is a role model for young people and one of China’s greatest heroes,” Robinson said. “We hope he may recognize dogs as the heroes they are too. They found survivors after the Sichuan earthquake and protected people from potential terrorists at the Olympic Games. Surely, they deserve more.”

No scientific evidence supports claims of dog-meat having nutritional and medicinal benefits. In China, dog-meat gets consumed as a tonic food, allegedly to give warmth in the winter and to combat fatigue, back pain, poor memory and slow digestion. (Paradoxically, South Koreans eat dog meat in the summer to cool themselves.)

Dog-skin and gallstones are deemed useful to invigorate or heal sickness. Dog-penis and testes are used for impotence or lowered sex drive and dog kidneys to cure impotence or premature ejaculation.

Sometimes the bones of dogs are used to treat rheumatism. A company in Jiangsu Province tries to market “dog brain powder” as a treatment for neurological disorders.

In winter, some Chinese also eat cat-meat “to warm stomachs”. The delicacies include paws (stir fried with garlic), eyes, stomach and testicles. Allegedly tasting like tough chicken, cat-meat also is consumed as an aphrodisiac or to treat rheumatoid arthritis, although recent research proves it ineffective against the illness.

Historically, most cat-consumption happens in Guangdong Province. Recently, it spread elsewhere due to the popularity of Guangdong cuisine. Sometimes cat-meat gets passed off as mutton.

For more information: www.animalsasia.org

ARCHIVES