China's Ministry of Agriculture recently banned the farming of dogs for meat, saying dogs were 'not livestock'. But there is no national ban on dog meat consumption and the practice continues.
PHOEBE ZHANG: Dog meat lovers are returning in full force for a season of feasting in the southern Chinese city of Yulin despite pressure rising across the country to end the trade after the Covid-19 pandemic focused attention on China’s meat consumption. “The scale of the dog meat trade in Yulin is pretty much the same compared to previous years,” said animal welfare advocate Yu Dezhi. Yu surveyed the city, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in May…
In May, during the ensuing debate over what meat is fit for the dining table, the Ministry of Agriculture an Rural Affairs banned the farming of dogs for meat, saying dogs were “pets, not livestock”. But there is no national ban on dog meat consumption and the practice, while not prevalent, continues in some places. Animal welfare activists say that the dog meat sold in the trade mostly comes from stolen dogs or strays, sometimes darted with poison. They urge China to end the practice with an animal cruelty act…
According to a 2016 survey by the Humane Society International, an animal rights group, more than half of the respondents said the dog meat trade should be completely banned. But eating dog has continued among a minority of people in China, as well as in South Korea, Vietnam and Switzerland…
The Humane Society International has called on members of the public to appeal to the Guangxi government to ban the trade on public health grounds, saying the origin of the meat is unclear and could pose health risks. “Attitudes and appetites about dogs have changed and so now it is time for Yulin’s dog slaughterhouses to lay down the butcher’s knife and consign the festival to the history books,” said Peter Li, a China policy specialist at the advocacy group. SOURCE…
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