Animal mistreatment is not officially protected by law in China. This essentially indicates that the government won’t step in to prevent people from treating animals whatever they see fit. The sole restrictions concern the consumption or killing of protected species.
It is frequently said that nothing has changed for animals in that country because the dog meat trade still exists, but this is far from the case, especially when it comes to the status of dogs and how they are seen. Actually, the uproar surrounding the Yulin festival was very important in gaining support for an anti-cruelty statute.
Is China still allowing people to eat dogs?
Between 10 and 20 million dogs are thought to be killed in China each year for human consumption.
[144] These extrapolations from industry figures on meat quantity to an estimated number of dogs killed, however, are not official estimates. [145]
The city of Shenzhen is the only place in mainland China where eating dog meat is illegal, and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture has never published quarantine guidelines for killing dogs.
[146]
[147] Dog commercial slaughter and sale were outlawed across the board in China in 2020. [61]
Chinese people have been consuming dog meat from at least 500 BCE, and possibly even earlier. According to certain theories, wolves in southern China may have been tamed for use as a meat supply. [148] Dog meat was mentioned by Mencius (372289 BCE) as a dietary meat that could be consumed. [149] The meat, which was said to have medicinal qualities and had been popular in northern China during the winter since it was assumed to elevate body temperature after intake and encourage warming, was first mentioned in the early 2000s. [150] [151] Dogs could be eaten as a last resort food source in times of food scarcity (such as during times of war), according to historical sources. [152]
The amount of dog eating in China today varies by location. The northern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning as well as Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guangxi have the highest prevalence of it. [153] Dogs are raised on ranches in Southern China, where dog meat was reportedly frequently offered in restaurants in 2010. [154] Chinese internet users and the Chinese police stopped trucks carrying caged dogs in 2012 before they could be butchered in towns like Chongqing and Kunming. [155]
In Yulin, Guangxi, there has been an annual festival where dog meat is consumed since 2009. (purportedly a celebration of the summer solstice). The festival was described as a commercial event hosted by eateries and the general public in a 2014 statement by the local government that distanced itself from it. [157] In 2011, there were 10 days of the festival, and 15,000 dogs were eaten. [158] Despite mounting domestic and international pressure to put an end to the celebration, estimates of the number of dogs consumed in 2015 ranged from higher than 10,000[159][160] to lower than 1,000. [161] [162] Despite protesters’ claims that some of the dogs bought for slaughter and food are stray or stolen pets, festival organizers claim that only dogs bred especially for consumption are utilized. [163] [164] Some of the dogs at the festival are said to have been tortured, burned, or cooked alive[165] in the mistaken notion that the flesh would taste better with more adrenaline coursing through the dog’s body. [159] [163] However, according to some reports, since 2015, there hasn’t been much proof of these activities. [162][161]
Eight canines (and their two cages) went for 1,150 yuan ($185) and six puppies for 1,200 yuan prior to the 2014 festival.
[166] A protester paid 7,000 yuan ($1,100; 710) to purchase 100 dogs prior to the 2015 event. [160] The city, according to the animal rights NGO Best Volunteer Centre, has more than 100 slaughterhouses that kill between 30 and 100 dogs per day. According to the Yulin Centre for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, there are only eight dog slaughterhouses in the city, and during the Yulin festival, this number rises to nearly 2,000 canines. [167] A number of campaigns have been launched to end the holiday, with the first one apparently beginning among residents in China. [162] A campaign to stop the festival in 2016 gathered 11 million signatures nationwide. [168] On Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, more than 3 million individuals have also signed petitions opposing it. [159] Prior to the 2014 event, it was prohibited for medical professionals to consume dog meat there, and eateries in the area that served it were required to cover the term “dog” on their menus and notices. [157] According to reports from 2014 and 2016, the holiday is not well-liked by the majority of Chinese people online and offline. [169][170][171]
The establishment of the Chinese Companion Animal Protection Network gave the movement against eating cat and dog meat more momentum (CCAPN). CCAPN started organizing demonstrations against the consumption of dog and cat meat in 2006, starting in Guangzhou and continuing in more than ten additional cities as a result of a favorable response from the general people. It has since grown to include more than 40 member societies. [172] In order to prevent offending tourists from various countries where the use of dog meat is frowned upon, officials ordered dog meat to be removed from the menu at the 112 official Olympic eateries before to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. [173] A draft law banning the consumption of dog meat was put forth in 2010. [174] Its initial draft proposal was presented in 2010 with the goal of protecting animals from abuse. Although there were expectations that the law would be enforced,[175] it featured a provision that could result in a person being imprisoned for up to 15 days for eating dog meat. [174]
How frequently is Chinese dog eaten?
According to estimates by the Humane Society International, up to 30 million dogs are killed each year for human consumption in Asia, the continent where dog meat eating is most prevalent. This estimate takes into account a large number of household pets, which are frequently unlawfully abducted from their homes and taken to be butchered. Although it is not believed to be prevalent in any of these nations, the consumption of dog meat is thought to be most common in China, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Nagaland region of India. Additionally, the practice is waning in acceptance in numerous nations where younger generations are more inclined to view dogs and cats as pets than as food.
China is the world’s largest consumer of dog meat, eating 10 million dogs (and four million cats) annually, according to estimates. In many parts of China, eating dog meat is still customary and dates back thousands of years. The most well-known of these areas to westerners is Yulin, which hosts an annual festival featuring dog meat. The annual Lychee and Dog Meat Festival in Yulin draws significant opposition and is becoming more divisive outside of China. The consumption of dog and cat meat was made illegal in Shenzhen and Zhuhai in 2020, making them the first and second mainland Chinese cities to do so. Additionally, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture reclassified dogs and cats from livestock to companion animals.
Vietnam, the second-largest eater of dog meat in the world, is another well-known nation where eating dogs is a common practice. The meat is served seasoned on a stick and nearly every component of the dog is used in stews and soups in Vietnam. Many people think that eating dog flesh is lucky and curative. The estimated five million dogs that are processed annually for dog meat in Vietnam—far more than China does per person—has led to the emergence of an illicit import industry for dogs from nearby nations like Cambodia (where canines are also consumed), Laos, and Thailand. Less than 5% of the population in Indonesia consumes dog meat, although both domestic and stray street dogs are frequently kidnapped and killed. Due to the high prevalence of rabies there and the frequently unhygienic conditions in which the meat is often killed and sold, the dog meat trade in Indonesia is deemed to be particularly risky. The main component of asocena in the Philippines is dog meat, which is also available there.
However, in 2017, Taiwan became the first nation in Asia to criminalize both the sale of cats and dogs for consumption and the consuming of cat and dog meat. Violations carry heavy fines, possible jail time, and public humiliation. Similar to this, it has long been forbidden in Hong Kong to kill cats and dogs and sell their meat. Consumption of this meat is still permitted, though.
According to reports, dog meat is eaten in famously secretive North Korea, Timor-Leste, and Uzbekistan. It was historically popular in South Korea, where it is the main component in meals like Gaegogi (also known as dog meat), Bosintang, Gae Suyuk, and the therapeutic beverage Gaesoju, although its use has declined recently. A 2020 study by Nielsen and HSI found that 84% of South Koreans asked do not eat dog meat and 60% of them would favor a ban on it. Humane Society International quotes a Korea Times report that over 40% of South Korean eateries offering dog meat had closed in the past ten years. The South Korean government established a task committee to examine such a ban in the latter half of 2021.
How many dogs are eaten each year in China?
The agricultural ministry today released a draft regulation that would outlaw the consumption of dog meat, indicating that the Chinese government is ready to put an end to the practice.
Chinese officials singled out dogs as being prohibited in a draft “white list of animals approved to be bred for meat, citing the “development of human civilisation as well as growing public concern over animal welfare and avoidance of disease transmission from animals to humans.
Dogs were described by the ministry as “unique companion animals and ones that are not recognized globally as livestock.”
Animal welfare organizations around the world are encouraged by the city of Shenzhen’s recent approval of the first-ever mainland China ban on the consumption of dog and cat meat. This action raises the possibility that other regions of the nation could soon follow suit. Even more is now included in the revised draft policy.
The fact that most Chinese people don’t eat dogs and cats and want a stop to the theft of their companion animals for a meat trade that only a small portion of the population participates in “signals a major shift,” according to Higgins.
Between 10 and 20 million dogs are thought to be killed in China each year for their flesh, according to HSI, while 4 million cats are thought to be slain annually, according to Animals Asia.
According to Higgins, the majority of these animals were stolen and not grown in captive breeding facilities.
She continued, “Not only does it result in severe animal misery, but it is also virtually totally supported by criminality and, perhaps most importantly at the moment, it presents an indisputable hazard to human health due to the possibility of diseases like rabies and cholera.
If the policy is not changed after a public comment period that runs through May 8, certain wildlife species that are now prohibited from being farmed under animal husbandry rules have been added to the new agricultural ministry list.
A list of wildlife species that are anticipated to be authorized as farm-raised species after China’s central government relaxes a restriction on the trade in wildlife includes deer, game birds, along with mink, two types of foxes, and other creatures.
The Covid-19 outbreak, which is mostly believed to have its origins in the legal or illegal wildlife supply chain, prompted the interim wildlife trade restriction, which was put in place starting in late January.
How does the flavor of dog meat?
After testing suggest that a takeout curry from London may have contained DOG or CAT, one author describes the flavor of the odd meat.
13:03, 28 Mar 2013
A man who has tried it claims that beef tastes bland after eating dog meat.
“To create the taste of dog, combine beef and mutton, then add extra meaty flavoring.
Everyone would undoubtedly adore it if it weren’t for the idea of eating dog because it’s so wonderful.
As part of a BBC program, food writer Stefan Gates traveled to South Korea to give it a try and investigated how dogs were grown, sold, and prepared.
The dogs were really healthy, well-fed, and, if tail wagging is any indication, they were content, the man claimed.
Why shouldn’t dogs be eaten?
At the town of Bambanglipuro in Bantul, which is close to the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, dogs are shackled in sacks before being butchered. A Reuters/Dwi Oblo image
Health is just one of many reasons why people should not consume dog meat.
Dogs were domesticated by humans as far back as 18,000 BC. Pigs were domesticated in 13,000 BC, and cows were domesticated in 10,000 BC.
There would not have been discussion about this issue if our forefathers had determined that dogs should be consumed in the same manner as pigs, cows, or chickens.
Dog meat isn’t mentioned at all in the classic texts on Vietnamese cuisine.
Only one or two food stands in Hanoi sold dog meat before to 1930. Nearly no one did in the south.
Although there are certain irrational myths about eating dog meat, at least in Vietnam, I believe people should also take into account the following information.
First, contrary to popular belief, dog meat isn’t particularly healthy. On the other hand, there are legitimate risks involved in eating it. The infamous Toxocara canis parasitic worm, which can cause blindness, myocarditis, and respiratory failure, may be present in dog meat.
Another legitimate worry is rabies. While the virus can be killed by high heat while cooking, customers are unaware of the vulnerability of kitchenware like knives and chopping boards to cross-contamination.
Second, research shows that dogs are among the most wise and devoted pets available. After a long day at work, you don’t see a chicken running out to welcome you very frequently, do you? However, dogs are unique. They will always be by your side, wagging their tails and beaming with joy whenever they see you, no matter what. What else could possibly qualify as unconditional love if not that?
The fact that most of the dog meat eaten in Vietnam is not raised on farms and is likely to be stolen from the dogs’ owners is the third and possibly most significant factor. Given this, there is a good likelihood that if you eat dog meat, you are involved in the kidnapping of a loved one, and somewhere, a family is grieving.
Fourth, the time when humans lived as hunter-gatherers and needed to go out and hunt, fish, and gather fruit has long since passed. We now have a variety of options, and avoiding eating dog meat is one among them.
Animal rights advocates frequently criticize China’s annual celebration where tens of thousands of dogs are murdered for their meat.
Things are evolving in South Korea, another nation that traditionally eats dog meat. In 2016, a survey of young people in South Korea revealed that 60% of them had never eaten dog meat and thought of dogs as “friends, not food.”
Taiwan prohibited the selling of dog and cat meat last year, and offenders were subject to fines ranging from $37,000 to $65,000.
Some people would argue that since dogs shouldn’t be eaten, the same should apply to all other creatures. Neither meat nor pork should be consumed. Humans are, in reality, at the pinnacle of the food chain. However, there is a distinction between consuming animals for food and murdering and eating them for entertainment. That is seriously flawed.
