Are There People Who Really Eat Dogs And Cats?
Shocking it may be but there are people who actually eat cats and dogs
“They’re eating the dogs… They’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets…”
When this statement was made in a recent debate, most people whether animal lovers or not gasped in shock.
Eating the cats? Eating the dogs? Eating the pets? Really?
The reality is that there are some countries in the world where some people eat cats and dogs.
The practice of eating dog meat, particularly, is centuries old
It is allowed in some Asian countries. In Africa, some of the countries that consume dog meat include Burkina Faso, Ghana, Liberia, Central Africa Republic, Republic of Congo, and Liberia.
Nigeria, meanwhile, is said to be the largest consumer of dog meat in the continent.
World’s biggest consumers of dog meat
In Asia, China and Vietnam are mentioned as the world’s biggest and second-biggest consumers of dog meat.
Meanwhile, aside from China and Vietnam, the Humane Society International also lists Indonesia, South Korea, The Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the region of Nagaland in India as places where dog and cat meat are being eaten.
Myanmar is also mentioned as another Asian country where people eat dog and cat meat, with cat meat said to be sweeter and more tender than that of dog meat.
In Indonesia, there was this “infamous” dog-and-cat-meat market in North Sulawesi “where butchers openly bludgeoned and burned the animals alive with a blowtorch”.
The dog and cat meat trade is a multi-billion dollar industry that operates all over Asia and in Hawaii, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Switzerland, Poland, the Arctic and Antarctic, more than twenty countries in Africa and parts of India. — NoToDogMeat Foundation
Can you believe these figures?
Dateline-Australia claimed that a dog is slaughtered somewhere in Asia for every second.
It is estimated that annually, 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are slaughtered worldwide for human consumption.
Included in those figures is the estimated 10 million dogs and four million cats being killed for eating in China.
Significantly, most of the dogs and cats in China that are slaughtered for meat are either stolen pets or strays snatched in backyards or street.
Yulin Dog Meat Eating Festival
An annual event involving the killing of dogs and cats for their meat is the Yulin Dog Festival, held in Yulin in Guangxi during the summer solstice.
According to Newsweek, this dog-meat-eating festival is spread over 10 days, with thousands of visitors partaking in eating dog-meat stew and crispy-dog meat.
This “celebration” drew much outrage and concern across the world.
Who would not be distressed especially when photos showing the horrific fate of those dogs and cats were seen?
Many countries have already outlawed the consumption of dog and cat meat
Eating dog and cat meat may be revolting to most people, but it should be emphasised that despite these huge figures in China especially, majority of Chinese never eat dog and cat meat.
Of the 20% that said they did, many of them had eaten it only once or twice at most in their lifetime.
In China, the first and second cities to make illegal the consumption of dog and cat meat is Shenzhen and Zhuhai. This was in 2020.
It must be noted, too, that dogs and cats were previously classified in China as livestock.
The country’s Ministry of Agriculture has changed this and classified dogs and cats as human companion animals.
The sale of dog meat was outlawed in Hong Kong since 1950.
Meanwhile, early this year, South Korea has passed a legislation outlawing the practice of eating dog meat.
This law would be enforced by 2027. This is to give time for the people engaged in the country’s 1,600 dog meat restaurants and 1,150 dog farms to find other forms of income.
(A more recent source reported that there are more than 17,000 dog farms in South Korea and more than 20,000 restaurants selling dog meat.
It was added that during “Bokdays”, South Korea’s 60-day long dog-meat-eating annual festival, an estimated 15,000 dogs and several thousand cats are slaughtered for food.)
In the Philippines, the consumption of dog meat was banned in 1998. This law, however, contained a provision for exceptions for “indigenous rituals” in which dogs are slaughtered and eaten.
More good news
In January this year according to The Economist-Asia, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore have joined South Korea in banning the dog-meat trade.
Cat meat is reported to be “sometimes banned, too”.
It was also reported that regional bans on this trade have spread from the Siem Reap province in Cambodia to the Nagaland state in India.
“Eating dogs was only made illegal in the US in 2017 except for North American Indians, but it is still legal to eat dog meat in Canada. Even in the UK, while selling dog or cat meat is forbidden, private slaughter and consumption are legal if humanely carried out.” — NoToDogMeat Foundation
Bizarre, baseless, racist
Going back to the basis on which this research article is based, the BBC, Newsweek The Guardian, AP News, NBC News, Reuters, The Economist, France24, USNews and many more reported that the claim about certain immigrants in this particular American city eating pets was bizarre, baseless, false, untrue, and racist.
NOTE: My original intention in writing this is to show, in a tongue-in-cheek way, that the idea or the claim about people eating cat and dog meat was utterly absurd — until I did my research, which is substantial and in-depth.
Suffice to say that I felt sick while reading the research materials. It is not an exaggeration to say that I missed a few meals. How could I eat while absorbing the vicious cruelty dealt to our best friends?
This is why I refrained from getting too explicit in writing about how dogs and cats were slaughtered in very cruel ways. For cruelty it is just so people could eat the meat because of cultural tradition, superstition, for medicinal purposes, as health food, or in the belief that eating dog meat would relieve the eater from the summer heat.
Animal charities and activists, it must be mentioned, are doing their part in trying to put a stop to this ultimate animal cruelty.
I dearly hope that one day soon, all countries where eating dog and cat meat are allowed would impose a total ban on this practice.
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