Please Do Not Tap On the Glass

In an effort to avoid offending foreign visitors during the Olympics, China has banned dog meat from menus in designated Olympic restaurants. The government has asked all restaurants to voluntarily remove dog meat from the menu during the games.

Animals Asia Foundation has issued a press release calling for the permanent ban of dog meat from restaurant menus. Here is the entire release:

Animals Asia Foundation has called on the Beijing authorities to make permanent a temporary ban on the sale of dog meat at official Olympic restaurants during the Games period.

An 11 June notice from the Beijing Food Safety Administration states that all meat transported into Beijing during the Olympics will be thoroughly checked, and that the 112 official Olympic restaurants will be prohibited from serving dog meat, while other restaurants in the capital (especially those that serve Korean, Yunnan and Guizhou cuisines) are strongly encouraged not to serve dog meat during the Games.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the ban had been introduced as a way to avoid offending foreign visitors. Any restaurant found violating the ban would be black-listed.

Animals Asia applauds this action and respectfully requests that the authorities issue a permanent ban on dog and cat eating in recognition that it is not just foreigners offended by the practice, but Chinese citizens too.

Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson MBE said Animals Asia’s survey on China’s largest internet portal, Sina.com, had over 5,000 responses and showed that many Chinese people were passionately against the idea of eating our “best friends.” “Peaceful demonstrations in the streets by Chinese animal welfare groups are showing the strength of feeling against the abject misery and torture suffered by millions of dogs and cats within the food industry today,” Ms. Robinson said.

”The scale of the cruelty in China’s live animal markets is immense and it is estimated that 10 million dogs or more are brutally slaughtered in the industry each year,” she said. “Animals Asia field investigators have witnessed trucks loaded with anything up to 2,000 dogs per truck arriving at wholesale markets, having spent several days and nights squashed together in tiny cages, unable to move, without food, water or shelter. Panting from thirst and dehydration, crying with terror, confusion and pain, their suffering is profound.

“The dogs are then brutally lifted by the neck and hurled into a pen by the traders wielding metal tongs. Here they fight through fear, hunger and desperation to survive before suffering a lingering, violent death as they are either bludgeoned over the head, stabbed in the neck or groin, hung, electrocuted or thrown conscious into drums of boiling water.”

Dog hog-tied in food market

Ms Robinson said diseases such as parvovirus, canine distemper and leptospirosis were rife and spread like wildfire in dogs whose immune systems were already low due to depression and starvation. During ongoing visits to the markets, Animals Asia investigators have witnessed a large number of dead and diseased dogs and cats that have been pulled out of the cages and slung to the side.

Dogs cramped in pen at food market

Christie Yang Min, Animals Asia China Relations Director said: “More and more Chinese people are standing up against dog and cat eating in China. In November 2007, we sponsored our second Companion Animal Symposium in Guangzhou, which saw the leaders of 39 Chinese animal welfare groups representing over 250,000 supporters calling upon the Government to end the slaughter of dogs and cats for their meat and fur.”

Ms. Yang said that time and time again, dogs across the world had proved their unique qualities and how valuable they could be in partnership with people. “In China, dogs are increasingly being recognised as friendly, loyal and even crucial members of the family and society.

“Changing family demographics, such as childless couples and increasing numbers of elderly people living alone, mean that more and more people are turning to dogs for companionship and support. As a result, pet ownership is booming, with just over 150 million pet dogs throughout the nation – one for every nine people.

“Now employed as sniffer dogs at airports and railway stations in China, dogs are also proving invaluable – and cheap – assistants for law enforcement officers,” Ms. Yang said.

Animals Asia’s successful Dr. Dog animal therapy program sees over 350 dedicated volunteers and their dogs visiting hospitals, disabled centres, elderly homes, orphanages and schools spreading warmth and love to people in need across Asia. In China, with the help of enlightened doctors, carers and journalists who understand the benefits of animal therapy, major inroads are being made to stop the suffering of companion animals.

Ms. Robinson continued: “We know that many foreigners are offended when they see dog and cat meat on the menu but, more importantly, many Chinese people are equally appalled.

”I hope the Government reflects on the wishes of it’s people, closes this ghastly industry once and for all and allows dogs and cats to be recognised and cherished as our friends … not food.”

While some places in Asia, such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan have banned the practice of dog eating, China remains the biggest dog-eating country in the world.

Beijing isn’t the first Olympic host to ban the dish. South Korea banned dog meat during the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

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Filed under: animal rights Tagged: | dog culls, dog meat ban