Friday, August 3, 2012

23 Reasons Animal Lovers Should Boycott China - Reason #3: China Slaughters Dogs Inhumanely, Eats Them


In many parts of China, man's best friends don't sit by the dinner table waiting for scraps to fall—they are dinner

[When I started this blog in 2008, my first post was about a dog who was chained inside a gallery and starved as part of an "artwork." Since then, animal welfare has remained a primary theme on 13.7 Billion Years. Over the years, I have learned about countless stories of animal cruelty here in the United States and across the world. But one country has shown the most blatant and widespread disregard for the lives and well-being of non-human animals: China. As Mahatma Gandhi wisely observed, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated." If China is to become a great nation, it has a lot of work to do. One way concerned people can help put pressure on China to change is to stop buying Chinese goods. More than 2.3 million people worldwide have signed the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, and the number of animal lovers around the globe is much greater. Imagine if all of them stopped purchasing Chinese products. So, every weekday for the month of August, I'll give animal lovers one reason to boycott China—23 reasons in all. It will not be an easy month to digest all the horrific stories and cruel practices. But I have placed great value in a quote by the late philosopher Albert Schweitzer: "Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." This month, I'll be doing that, and I hope you will too. -- Reynard Loki]

While the Chinese government cancelled an annual dog meat festival—during which around 15,000 dogs are slaughtered, many of them inhumanely—in response to an international uproar after gruesome images were circulated on the Internet last year, eating dog meat remains legal and acceptable in many parts of the country, particularly in the northeastern and southern provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi, Guandong and Fujian.

And, like other Chinese laws regarding animal welfare, the ban will most likely not be enforced. China is one of eleven countries left in the world where eating dog meat is legal and socially acceptable. In Guangdong, some breeds are even slaughtered as young puppies as early as 3 to 4 months old to supply the demand for preserved dog meat.

Animal welfare advocates have pointed out the widespread cruelty involved in the Chinese dog meat industry, and animal experts have drafted legislation to protect the dogs from abuse (though again, even if such legislation passes, it will likely not be enforced). One particularly violent instance of animal abuse in the Chinese dog trade involves beating the animals to death to release blood into the meat, reports the International Business Times.

"People actually enjoyed killing them in different ways," said Wang Lingyi, an animal welfare worker from Hangzhou, according to Psychology Today. "I've seen the dogs being stabbed, strangled and even beaten unconscious and then thrown into boiling water. If the dogs regained consciousness in the extremely hot water, they struggled, but the stall holders kept pushing them down and plucking their fur."

Additionally, World Health Organization experts on a fact-finding mission in the capital of Guangdong reported evidence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) in dog markets. There have also been reports of pet dogs being snatched off the streets to be sold on the dog meat market.

To a Westerner, the thought of eating man's best friend may seem horrific, but animal rights organization PETA has pointed out on their blog that, while upsetting to Western thinking, it is no different that all other forms of animal consumption. However, the group forgets that plain fact that the dog-human bond is infinitely stronger than, say, the dog-cow or dog-chicken relationship. Indeed, dogs have been close human companions for thousands of years: Dogs and humans have arguably forged the closest relationship between two species the world has ever seen.

"Pet ownership has grown rapidly among the Chinese, as has a greater consciousness of animal rights," writes Edward Wong in The New York Times. Hopefully that growing consciousness will soon stop the practice of eating man's best friend.

As the late American wildlife preservationist and former ASPCA president Roger Caras wisely observed, "Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." It's high time to take them off the dinner table for good, no matter where in the world they may roam.

ACTION ALERTS
  • Sign a Care for Chinese Animals petition to ban dog and cat meat in China
  • Join Bill Clinton, Paul McCartney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bono, Ricky Gervais, Roger Moore, Susan Sarandon, Anjelica Huston, Jeremy Irons, Paula Abdul, Joan Jett, Annie Lennox, Elton John and thousands of others who have signed the TigerTime petition urging Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to call for an end to all tiger trade in China
  • Sign a Change.org petition to close China's bear bile farms
  • Sign the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW)
  • Follow 13.7 Billion Years on Twitter
23 REASONS ANIMAL LOVERS SHOULD BOYCOTT CHINA
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image: Dog carcasses at a market in Yulin in the Guangxi province, known for its dog meat trade. (The Sun)
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