The things humans eat

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/20100126134416/Article/index_html

I will spare you the photos, unless you wish to google them and see them for yourself. 

Jan 26, 2010



Dog meat off Chinese menus


BEIJING – DOG and cat meat – age-old delicacies in China – could be off the menu in the food-loving nation under its first law against animal abuse, state press said on Tuesday.


People who eat either animal, both of which are viewed as promoting bodily warmth, would face fines of up to 5,000 yuan (S$1,000) and up to 15 days in jail if the law is passed, the Chongqing Evening News said. It said ‘organisations’ involved in the practice would be fined from 10,000 to 500,000 yuan. The report gave no other details.


The law has been at the drafting stage over the past year and the report did not make clear when the legislation was expected to become law. China’s rubber-stamp legislature meets in March but draft legislation can often take years to be approved.


Cruelty to animals and the raising of cat and dog meat for dinner tables remains widespread in China, despite growing consciousness over animal welfare.


Restaurants touting ‘fragrant meat’, a euphemism for dog, can be seen in cities throughout the country, where the fondness for dogs as pets co-exists with a taste for canine meat.


Cat meat is most popular in parts of southern China and there are regular reports of animal lovers attempting to block trucks carrying hundreds or even thousands of cats to meat markets and eventually dinner tables there. — AFP

Last year, I was email-interviewed by The Star for an expose on dog-meat-eating in Malaysia.  http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/7/7/lifefocus/20080707100338&sec;=lifefocus 

I have heard that there are underground “exotic-meat” restaurants in the Klang Valley, but nothing seems to be done to close down these restaurants.  

I have also heard that some contractors who work for the local councils in dog-catching sell dogs at RM100 to these restaurants.  I hope I heard wrong.  

It has been an age-old practice in China where people eat dog and cat.  I remember years ago, a friend of mine visited China and he purposely described to me how delicious the cat noodles was somewhere in Southern China (yes, some people are quite sadistic and they delight in telling you precisely what you do not like to hear). 

We hope China will pass the law making dog and cat eating illegal. 

Then, there’s Korea as well……..

Humans need to eat.  Yes, we all do. 

But many eat out of greed and pleasure.

Eat to live.  Not live to eat.  There are more meaningful things to do in life than to eat for pleasure.   

P.S.  A note of thanks to my friend, Kon, for forwarding the news about China’s plans to ban dog and cat eating.