The annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival is one of the most controversial food festivals in China and sees thousands of dogs cruelly killed, skinned and cooked with blow-torches before being eaten.
TRACY YOU: ‘A city in China has drafted a law to ban residents from eating dog meat to improve food safety in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Animal activists have demanded the Chinese government prohibit the consumption of dogs for years. If this proposal from Shenzhen gets passed, it will be the first of its kind in the country. The annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival is one of the most controversial food festivals in China and sees thousands of dogs cruelly killed, skinned and cooked with blow-torches before being eaten by the locals. Apart from dogs, the proposed act bars snake, frog and turtle meat from the dinner table. The news comes after China banned all trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the country’s deadly virus epidemic.
The officials described the regulation as the ‘universal civilisation requirement for a modern society’. They said they had considered the city’s practical situation before including the extra animal species, which are not wildlife. The aim is to ‘further satisfy the daily needs of the people’. According to the document, nine types of livestock are suitable for people to eat. They are pigs, cows, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and pigeons. Residents are also allowed to dine on aquatic animals permitted by law. Commenting on the necessity for the government to create ‘a white list’, one spokesperson said the authority wanted to make it easier for people to know what can be eaten…
Animal rights activists have expressed their support for the proposed ban. Charity group Humane Society International said it welcomed Shenzhen lawmakers’ proposal to ban the consumption of dog as well as cat meat. Peter Li, the group’s China Policy Specialist told Mail Online: ‘Although the trade in Shenzhen is fairly small compared with the rest of the province, Shenzhen is still a huge city bigger than Wuhan so this would be very significant and could even have a domino effect with other cities following… Although World Health Organization advice is clear that dogs and cats pose no known coronavirus threat whatsoever, it’s no surprise that attention is turning to this trade at this time, because as well as causing immense cruelty to our companion animals, the dog meat trade undoubtedly poses a huge human health risk for other diseases such as rabies’.’ SOURCE…
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