Eating cats, dogs could be outlawed
- Source: Global Times
- [02:40 January 27 2010]
- Comments
Animal-protection activists hold up signs such as "Please don't eat cats and dogs" and "We care about your pain," on a street in Wuhan, in central Hubei Province, on Saturday. Photo: IC
By Huang Jingjing
In a move prompted by calls of animal cruelty, legislation is being drafted to make eating cats and dogs illegal.
It may be months or a year before the draft is actually voted on by lawmakers, but the plan is to submit it to the legislature and State Council by April, according to the leader of the drafting team, Chang Jiwen, who is also director of the Social Law Research Department at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Chang outlined some of the proposed details of the draft to the Global Times Tuesday. He said the law's violators could face a penalty of up to 50,000 yuan ($7,325) and 15 days in police cus-tody under the anti-animal-cruelty legislation.
The team will solicit opinions from experts, scholars and "related government departments" before submitting its proposal, Chang said. He declined to speculate on when the draft might be voted on.
China doesn't currently have any formal animal-welfare laws prohibiting the cruel treatment or killing of animals.
Eating dog meat in China is believed to date back thousands of years. The meat is considered by some to have medicinal properties, as well as warming the body in winter months.
Dog and cat meat are especially popular in parts of China such as Guangdong and Guangxi in the south, as well as the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in the northeast, and in neighboring North Korea, where such dishes are also popular.
Dog eaters often cite folk reference books, saying that people in Guangdong are likely to develop miasma, a local epidemic, and they claim that eating dog dispels toxins absorbed by the human body and helps cure miasma.
And there is a popular Cantonese dish called longhudou, or "dragon duels with tiger," with the name deriving from snake and cat meat.
It has long been hailed as a nourishing dish in the southern metropolis, mixed with Chinese herbs.
As a way to attract customers, some restaurants offer cooked dog meat for 76 yuan per kilogram, and diners can even take away raw dog meat by paying 40 yuan per kilogram, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Tuesday.
Consumption of dog meat is also common among the Korean minority in China. In Yanbian, some restaurants on major streets can be seen flashing billboards advertising "yummy dog meat."
Ge Rui, Asia's regional director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, who has made public calls for an anti-animal-cruelty law since 1998, insisted that punishing animal eaters won't harm people's basic interests in the long run.
"No research can prove that the meat of dog and cat contains higher nutrition. People have been suffering a lot for randomly eating animals. No one can guarantee that the infectious diseases in cats and dogs will never be transmitted to human beings," Ge told the Global Times.
A Hubei resident named Xiao Tiantian is also outspoken against eating dog meat, especially since his pet dog was stolen.
"My dog must have become a victim of the notorious dog-meat consumption habit in Guangdong," Xiao said. "The habit has boosted the business of cashing in on cats and dogs, leading many locals to illegally catch and ship them to Guangdong in cages. I can't accept that."
